UK Newspaper Watchdog Formally Investigating Disgraced Jeremy Clarkson Meghan Markle Column

The UK’s newspaper watchdog has launched a formal investigation into Jeremy Clarkson’s now-disgraced column about Meghan Markle.

The confirmation comes weeks after the column in Rupert Murdoch’s Sun newspaper became the most complained about UK article of all time with more than 25,000 complaints.

The UK’s Independent Press Standards Organisation said in a statement that it was acting following complaints in particular from The Fawcett Society and The Wilde Foundation over breaches of accuracy, harassment and discrimination.”

The outcome of the investigation will be made public once it has concluded.

In the former Top Gear host’s much-maligned column, Clarkson wrote that he “dreams of the day when [Markle] is made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant ‘Shame!’ and throw lumps of excrement at her,” in a callback to a Game of Thrones scene.

The fallout was swift and severe. The Sun apologized and removed the December 17 article, while Clarkson has said sorry to Markle and her husband Prince Harry, an apology that was roundly rejected by the LA-based couple.

Amazon Prime Video, which commissions his popular Clarkson’s Farm show, is now unlikely to work with Clarkson beyond 2024 and his future on ITV’s Who Wants to be a Millionaire? is also being weighed up. In a letter to a Scottish MP earlier this year, Deadline revealed ITV CEO Carolyn McCall said there was “no place” for Clarkson’s remarks on her channel.