UK: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle reject apologies of tabloid says nothing more than a publicity gimmick

UK: After The Sun issued an apology and stated it regretted printing a highly criticised essay about the couple, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan accused the British tabloid of pulling a "PR stunt" on Saturday.

The story, in which former "Top Gear" host Jeremy Clarkson claimed to "detest" Meghan, received a lot of controversy and quickly rose to the top of the list of articles that the UK's Independent Press Standards Organization (IPSO) received complaints about.
The article said that Clarkson daydreamed of seeing Meghan "forced to walk naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the people chant'shame!' and hurl lumps of faeces at her."

More than 20,000 complaints were submitted to IPSO, and prominent figures like novelist Philip Pullman and London Mayor Sadiq Khan criticised the remarks.

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The Sun's Apology

The Sun apologised on Friday and announced that the item would now be deleted from its archives after removing it from its website on December 16 at Clarkson's request.
In a statement posted to its website, the tabloid expressed its "sincere regrets."
Although the opinions of columnists are their own, as a publisher, we recognise that freedom of expression entails responsibilities.

But in a cutting response, a representative for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, as they are officially known, criticised it for failing to get in touch with Meghan to offer a personal apology.

"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," the representative claimed.

The Sun apologised on Friday and announced that the item would now be deleted from its archives after removing it from its website on December 16 at Clarkson's request.
In a statement posted to its website, the tabloid said, "We are sincerely sorry," 
"Columnists' opinions are their own, but as a publisher, we realise that with free expression comes responsibility."

But in a cutting response, a representative for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, as they are officially known, criticised it for failing to get in touch with Meghan to offer a personal apology.

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Nothing more than a PR stunt

"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," the representative claimed.

We wouldn't be in this predicament if The Sun didn't continue to profit from and promote hate, violence, and misogyny, the publication said, "While the public clearly deserves the publication's regrets for their dangerous words. A change in their reporting and moral guidelines for everyone would constitute a sincere apology. We're not holding our breath, unfortunately.

The piece was in response to the couple's recent "Harry & Meghan" Netflix docuseries, in which they were very critical of the ravenous UK tabloid press.

Clarkson acknowledged this week that he made "a clumsy reference to a scene in Game of Thrones and this has gone down badly with a great many people".

I'm mortified to have caused so much harm, and I will be more cautious going forward, he continued.

One of the most well-known sequences from "Game of Thrones" features a lady character being forced to perform a "walk of shame" while being pelted with trash.

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