'Nothing more than a PR stunt': Harry and Meghan rejects UK tabloid's apology over column

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have criticised the British Tabloid’s recent apology and called it “nothing more than a PR stunt”. The royal couple got into a miff with the UK Tabloid, The Sun, over a column written by columnist Jeremy Clarkson. According to the BBC, in the column, the British columnist asserted that he hated Meghan “on a cellular level”. It was also reported that the piece written by Clarkson has received more than 20,000 complaints.

A spokesperson of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle called it a "PR stunt" since neither the columnist nor the UK tabloid has approached the “Suits” actress to apologize to her for the comments. On Friday, the UK newspaper published a formal apology to the couple over the article written by Clarkson and stated that the British columnist is “sincerely apologetic”. The apology came after many readers complained to the UK newspaper and magazine regulator Independent Press Standards Organization. 

Following the apology, on Saturday the spokesperson told The Independent, “The fact that The Sun has not contacted The Duchess of Sussex to apologize shows their intent. This is nothing more than a PR stunt”. He then went on to add that The Sun is profiting off and exploiting, “hate, violence, and misogyny”. Emphasizing the fact that the media should maintain “ethical standards”, the spokesperson of the royal couple exclaimed, “A true apology would be a shift in their coverage and ethical standards for all”.

‘Horrified to have caused so much hurt’: Clarkson

In the column, which was published on 16 December, Clarkson wrote, “At night, I'm unable to sleep as I lie there, grinding my teeth and dreaming of the day when she [Meghan] 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”. The columnist continued with his rant and wrote, “But what makes me despair is that younger people, especially girls, think she's pretty cool. They think she was a prisoner of Buckingham Palace, forced to talk about nothing but embroidery and kittens”. After the publication of the article, both The Sun and Clarkson received major backlash from the readers. The British Columnist tried to navigate the situation by putting out a tweet earlier this week. On December 19, he took to Twitter and wrote, "Oh dear. I’ve rather put my foot in it. In a column I wrote about Meghan, I made a clumsy reference to a scene in Game of Thrones and this has gone down badly with a great many people. I’m horrified to have caused so much hurt and I shall be more careful in future."

In the statement put out by The Sun on Friday, the British media house made it clear that the opinions written in the article belonged to the author himself, but also asserted that as a publisher they have some responsibilities. The statement reads, “with free expression comes responsibility". According to the BBC, the piece written by Clarkson instantly became Independent Press Standards Organisation’s “most complained-about article”.