London:
Prince Harry and his wife Meghan accused The Sun of a “PR stunt” on Saturday after the British tabloid apologized and said it regretted publishing a much-criticized column about the couple.
The piece, in which former “Top Gear” presenter Jeremy Clarkson said he “hated” Meghan, caused a major backlash and became the UK Independent Press Standards Organization’s (IPSO) most-complained article.
In it, Clarkson said he dreamed of the day when Meghan “must parade naked through the streets of every city in Britain while the crowd shouts ‘shame!’ chants. and throw chunks of feces at her”.
IPSO received more than 20,000 complaints and many prominent figures criticized the comments, including author Philip Pullman and London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
The Sun, which removed the Dec. 16 article from its website three days later at Clarkson’s request, said in Friday’s apology that it would now also be removed from its archives.
“We are sincerely sorry,” the tabloid said in a statement on its website.
“The columnists’ opinions are their own, but as a publisher we realize that with free speech comes responsibility.”
But in a caustic response, a spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, as they are formally known, criticized it for not reaching out to Meghan to apologize directly.
“The fact that The Sun has not contacted the Duchess of Sussex to apologize shows their intent. This is nothing more than a public relations stunt,” the spokesperson said.
While the public absolutely deserves the publication’s regret for their dangerous comments, we would not be in this situation if The Sun did not continue to profit from and abuse hate, violence and misogyny.
“A real apology would be a shift in their messaging and ethical standards for everyone. Unfortunately, we’re not holding our breath.”
The article was written in response to the recent Netflix docuseries “Harry & Meghan”, in which they were highly critical of the voracious British tabloid press.
In his own response earlier this week, Clarkson said on Twitter that he “made a clumsy reference to a scene in Game of Thrones and this has gone down badly with a lot of people.”
He added: “I am shocked that I have caused so much pain and I will be more careful in the future.”
In one of the most famous scenes in “Game of Thrones,” a female character goes on a “walk of shame,” where she is forced to walk the streets naked as people throw garbage at her.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is being published from a syndicated feed.)
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