The chairman of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) has cancelled an engagement with Rupert Murdoch due to the “volume of complaints” the regulator received about Jeremy Clarkson.
An article by Clarkson, in which he said he “hated” the Duchess of Sussex and dreamt of seeing her publicly shamed, was published on Friday by The Sun, which is published by Murdoch’s company News UK.
Since its publication, Ipso, which upholds journalistic standards in the UK, said it had received more than 6000 complaints about the piece.
A spokesperson for the media regulator said Lord Faulk’s attendance at the event on Monday evening, hosted by Murdoch, “would not be appropriate at this time”.
“As part of his role as Chairman of Ipso, Lord Faulks often meets publishers and editors,” a spokesman for the regulator said.
“Lord Faulks was due to attend a long-standing engagement this evening hosted by Rupert Murdoch and attended by News UK executives.
“Because of the volume of complaints about Jeremy Clarkson’s column, Lord Faulks felt his attendance would not be appropriate at this time and has explained this to the organisers.”
A spokesman for Ipso told the PA news agency that the regulator had received over 6,000 complaints about Clarkson’s article as of midday on Monday, and that the number was subject to change.
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.
— Jeremy Clarkson (@JeremyClarkson) December 19, 2022
He added that the complaints were being assessed in accordance with its standard procedure.
Ipso received a total of 14,355 complaints in 2021, the spokesman added.
Lord Faulks was announced as the new chairman of Ipso in August 2019, and took up the position in January 2020.
The body is the independent regulator for the newspaper and magazine industry in the UK, holding newspapers and magazines to account, protecting individual rights, upholding high standards of journalism, and helping to maintain freedom of expression for the press.