Get the latest news from across Ireland straight to your inbox every single day Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign up! Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Comedian Dara O Briain hit out at the BBC yesterday after Danny Baker was sacked for a tweet that sparked a racism row. The radio DJ was axed over a photo showing a well-dressed man and woman with a chimp in a suit with the caption “Royal baby leaves hospital”. Reacting to the news, the Wicklow man tweeted: “What? Danny Baker got fired? But he immediately apologised and deleted the tweet! “I mean, literally, in the event of mistakenly causing offence, what else can you do? Genuinely amazed by that.” The 47-year-old later added he was not “excusing” Baker and said: “Also amazed by how many thought that by posting this, I was excusing the original tweet. Of course I wasn’t. “The Irish had a century of that monkey sh** too, y’know. Ultimately, though, I’d like that to hope if/when I f*** up, you might accept an apology...” Baker said Beeb chiefs “threw me under a bus” and maintained he is not racist and his ill-fated gag was about being “posh”. The 61-year-old claimed he had no idea newborn Archie was the son of Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, whose mum is African American.<doc-sep>Dara Ó Briain has defended fellow comedian Danny Baker, who was fired from the BBC after tweeting about the royal baby using a photo of a chimpanzee. Baker, 61, was accused of racism after seemingly mocking Meghan Markle’s heritage in a now deleted post that featured an image of two people holding hands with a small monkey dressed in a suit. He posted it, moments after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex revealed their son, with the caption: “Royal baby leaves hospital.” Baker later confirmed he had been by sacked BBC 5 Live on Twitter, writing: “Just got fired from @bbc5live.” Ó Briain tweeted in response to the decision: “What? Danny Baker got fired? But he immediately apologised and deleted the tweet! I mean, literally, in the event of mistakenly causing offence, what else can you do? Genuinely amazed by that.” After a backlash from fans, he added: “Also amazed by how many thought that by posting this, I was excusing the original tweet. Of course I wasn’t. The Irish had a century of that monkey s*** too, y’know. Ultimately, though, I’d like that to hope if/when I f*** up, you might accept an apology...” When a Twitter user argued that it’s impossible Baker wouldn’t have been aware of the racist connotations of his tweet, he replied: “I just don’t think Danny is some racist who did that deliberately, no matter how it came out. You say f**k him, I say forgive him, but we agree on way more... I just hate the ‘it’s over- cancel him’ culture of total certainty here, and I think it makes all judgements total and final.” Baker, who called the tweet an “idiotic” mistake, has since insisted he’s not racist in an interview with Sky News. A BBC spokesperson said: “This was a serious error of judgment and goes against the values we as a station aim to embody. Danny’s a brilliant broadcaster but will no longer be presenting a weekly show with us.” Baker issued an angry reply to the news on social media, accusing bosses of “throwing him under the bus.” Upon receiving backlash to the tweet, Baker swiftly removed it and commented: “Sorry my gag pic of the little fella in the posh outfit has whipped some up. Never occurred to me because, well, mind not diseased.” “Soon as those good enough to point out it’s possible connotations got in touch, down it came. And that’s it.” The royal baby – whose name is Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor – was born on Monday 6 May before making his first public appearance at Windsor Castle two days later.<doc-sep>
Baker tweeted, then deleted, a photo of a chimpanzee wearing a suit with the caption “Royal baby leaves hospital” earlier this week. Shortly after, the BBC confirmed that the broadcaster had been dismissed by Radio 5 Live, describing the tweet as “a serious error of judgement” that “goes against the values we as a station aim to embody”. Mock the Week host Ó Briain told Twitter followers that he was “genuinely amazed” by the BBC’s decision. “What? Danny Baker got fired? But he immediately apologised and deleted the tweet!” he wrote. “I mean, literally, in the event of mistakenly causing offence, what else can you do? Genuinely amazed by that.” The comedian was later forced to clarify his initial message after Twitter users thought he was “excusing” Baker’s original tweet. Apology: Baker later said the tweet was a "naive and catastrophic mistake" / PA “Also amazed by how many thought that by posting this, I was excusing the original tweet. Of course I wasn’t,” he wrote. “The Irish had a century of that monkey s*** too, y’know (cf Punch magazine). Ultimately, though, I’d like that to hope if/when I f*** up, you might accept an apology…” Danny Baker defends his actions Baker issued a second “formal apology” for his “genuine, naïve and catastrophic mistake” in a series of tweets posted earlier today, having previously accused the BBC of “throwing him under the bus.” “Following one of the worst days of my life I just want to formally apologise for the outrage I caused and explain how I got myself into this mess,” he wrote. Baker said that he had intended “to lampoon privilege & the news cycle” with his post, but “chose the wrong photo to illustrate a joke. Disastrously so.”