Names and faces
■ A column in The Sun tabloid that fantasized about seeing Prince Harry’s wife, Meghan, being pelted with feces as she was paraded naked through the streets was sexist, Britain’s press watchdog found. The column by TV personality Jeremy Clarkson in December described how he hated the Duchess of Sussex “on a cellular level.” He said she used “vivid bedroom promises” to turn Harry into a “warrior of woke” and controlled him like a sock puppet. “The imagery employed by the columnist in this article was humiliating and degrading toward the duchess,” said Edward Faulks, chairman of the Independent Press Standards Organisation. The group found that multiple “pejorative and prejudicial” references to Meghan’s sex breached its editors’ code. “Stereotypes about women using their sexuality to exert influence … implied that it was the duchess’s sexuality — rather than any other attribute or accomplishment — which was the source of her power,” the findings said. However, the group rejected complaints that Clarkson was inaccurate or harassed Meghan or discriminated against her on the basis of race. The article had inspired a record number of complaints to the regulator, and the newspaper removed it and apologized. Clarkson, who made his name as the combative host of the BBC car show “Top Gear” and hosts the motoring show “The Grand Tour” on Amazon, had said he was “horrified” after the blowback. He apologized and promised to be more careful. Harry had called the article “horrific, hurtful and cruel” and said the column would encourage misogyny.
■ An Air Force chef and a Marine Corps chef, crowned “Chopped” champions during Jill Biden‘s appearance on a military-themed episode of the Food Network show, spent Friday whipping up meals in the White House Navy Mess. Air Force chef Opal Poullard and Marine Corps chef Dustin Lewis accepted the mission from the first lady, who made a surprise appearance in a May episode of “Chopped” as part of her initiative to support service members and their families and caregivers. The judges ruled that the four-person team of military chefs had defeated a team of Food Network celebrity chefs. The first lady congratulated the winners, gave them White House aprons signed by herself and the president and invited them to the executive mansion to help cook for the Fourth of July. Poullard is a Los Angeles native based at Fort Gregg-Adams in Virginia, where she’s an advanced culinary instructor. Lewis, who was born in Dayton, Ohio, and is stationed in North Carolina, most recently was executive chef to the Marine Corps commandant. He previously was executive chef to Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump. Lewis’ signature dish was lemon-herb scallops with wild mushroom parmesan risotto and roasted asparagus with white truffle herb oil and charred focaccia. Poullard’s, inspired by her travels to Rome, was braised osso buco, or veal shanks, served with polenta, shaved parmesan, crispy fennel and shallots.