The Sun apology labelled ‘PR stunt’ by Harry and Meghan

LONDON: A spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex said on Saturday an apology by The Sun newspaper over a column in which Jeremy Clarkson said he “hated” Meghan Markle is “nothing more than a PR stunt”.

The newspaper issued a statement saying it regrets the publication of Clarkson’s column, where he wrote that he had dreamed of Markle being paraded through British towns and publicly shamed, and that it was “sincerely sorry”.

A statement from a spokesperson for the couple said: “The fact that the Sun has not contacted The Duchess of Sussex to apologise shows their intent. “This is nothing more than a PR stunt. While the public absolutely deserves the publication’s regrets for their dangerous comments, we wouldn’t be in this situation if The Sun did not continue to profit off of and exploit hate, violence and misogyny. “A true apology would be a shift in their coverage and ethical standards for all. Unfortunately, we’re not holding our breath.”

Writing on Twitter, Clarkson said he was “horrified to have caused so much hurt” following the backlash and that he would “be more careful in future”.

At his request, the column was removed from The Sun’s website on Monday, but had received more than 17,500 complaints as of 9am on Tuesday, rising to 20,800 by 5 pm on the same day.

In its apology, The Sun newspaper said: “In last Saturday’s Sun, Jeremy Clarkson wrote a comment article about the Duchess of Sussex. It provoked a strong response and led to a large number of complaints to Ipso, the independent press regulator.

“In a tweet earlier this week, Jeremy said he had made a ‘clumsy reference to a scene in Game of Thrones’, which had ‘gone down badly with a great many people’ and he was ‘horrified to have caused so much hurt’. He also said he will be more careful in future.