Ex-'Top Gear' host Jeremy Clarkson's controversial column about Meghan Markle was sexist but not racist, UK media regulator says

• Jeremy Clarkson's column about Meghan in The Sun was sexist, according to IPSO.
• The UK media regulator has rejected a complaint that the column was racist. 
• The Sun published a front-page summary of the findings on Saturday.

Jeremy Clarkson's controversial column about Meghan Markle in The Sun has been deemed sexist by Britain's Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). 

In the since-deleted column, which was published online and in print in December 2022, Clarkson wrote that he hated Meghan and dreamed of her being paraded "naked through the streets." 

"Meghan, though, is a different story. I hate her," the former "Top Gear" presenter wrote in the article. "Not like I hate Nicola Sturgeon or Rose West. I hate her on a cellular level," he added, referencing Scotland's former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and the English serial killer Rose West.

"At night, I'm unable to sleep as I lie there, grinding my teeth and dreaming of the day when she 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," Clarkson wrote of Meghan.

The column was heavily criticized and IPSO's chief executive Charlotte Dewar said the organization received over 25,100 complaints from the public in a summary of its findings posted to the media regulator's website on Friday.

IPSO wrote that it was prompted to launch its investigation into the column after complaints from two women's organizations, The Fawcett Society and The WILDE Foundation (Women Into Literature, Development & Empowerment).

According to the findings published by IPSO's complaints committee, the column breached Clause 12 (Discrimination) of the Editors' Code of Practice as it contained "pejorative and prejudicial" references to the duchess' sex.

IPSO, a UK-based independent press regulator, investigates complaints about stories that may breach its Editors' Code of Practice, a set of rules that a number of British newspapers and magazines regulated by IPSO have agreed to follow, according to its website.

The organization's regulation standards have been called into question in recent years, however. In 2016, the UK's National Union of Journalists (NUJ) called IPSO a "pointless so-called regulator" after it stated that press regulation had not improved since the 2012 Leveson Inquiry was published, as The Guardian reported. The Leveson Inquiry was a public report into the culture, practices, and ethics of the British press chaired by Sir Brian Leveson in the wake of the News International phone-hacking scandal.

Still, IPSO's ruling appears to be a historic one. It marks the first time since IPSO was established in 2014 that a complaint on the basis of sexism has been upheld, according to a statement issued to The Fawcett Society's website on Saturday.

IPSO said the article was sexist but rejected allegations of racism

The committee referenced Clarkson's comparison of Meghan to Sturgeon and West in its ruling, saying that "the only clear common characteristic between the three" was their gender and Clarkson's hatred of them. 

The ruling also cited an extract from Clarkson's column in which he wrote that Meghan used "vivid bedroom promises" to turn Prince Harry into a "warrior of woke."

It wrote that these comments could be interpreted as a reference to stereotypes about women using their sexuality to gain power and implied that Meghan's sexuality, rather than any of her attributes or accomplishments, were the source of her power.

However, the committee rejected a complaint that alleged a portion of the article was racist.

The complaint argued that Clarkson's suggestion that Meghan transformed Harry into a "warrior of woke" was racist as the phrase references anti-racism activism. The complaint also alleged that the sexualized language used in this portion of the article was an "indirect reference" to Meghan's race, as it invoked "racially-charged tropes in which Black women are sexually objectified more than white women."

In its ruling, IPSO said it "acknowledged the strength and sincerity of the complainants' view," but concluded that the portion of the article referenced "did not provide a basis to establish that there was a pejorative reference to race."

The committee also rejected a complaint that the opinion column was inaccurate and that it harassed the duchess, IPSO reports.

The Sun has published a front-page summary of IPSO's findings

At IPSO's request, The Sun published a summary of the organization's findings on its front page and on its digital edition on Saturday.

"After Jeremy Clarkson's column was published in December, both The Sun and Jeremy Clarkson apologized.  We said we regretted publishing the article and removed it from our website," a spokesperson for The Sun told Insider.

"The Sun accepts that with free expression comes responsibility," the spokesperson said. They added that the publication has a long history of campaigning for women, including its campaign to strengthen legislation on domestic abuse.

Clarkson wrote in a tweet on December 19, 2022, that he was "horrified to have caused so much hurt" and that his comments about parading Meghan naked through the streets was a "clumsy reference" to a scene in "Game of Thrones."

And in a statement shared in a since-removed Instagram post in January 2023, Clarkson expressed his remorse regarding the column and said he had reached out privately to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, People reported.

However, in a statement sent to People, a spokesperson for the couple rejected Clarkson's claim, saying he only reached out to Harry.

Harry publicly addressed Clarkson's column about Meghan in a January interview, telling ITV News presenter Tom Bradby in an interview that Clarkson's words were "horrific and hurtful and cruel."

"It also encourages other people around the UK and around the world, men particularly, to go and think that it's acceptable to treat women that way," he added.

Harry also criticized his family for not speaking publicly against Clarkson, specifically mentioning his stepmother, Queen Camilla. 

"To use my stepmother's words recently as well, there is a global pandemic of violence against women," Harry said. "It's no longer a case of me asking for accountability, but at this point, the world is asking for accountability and the world is asking for some form of comment from the monarchy. But the silence is deafening, to put it mildly."

Representatives for the Duchess of Sussex and The Fawcett Society did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. Representatives for Clarkson and The WILDE Foundation could not be reached.