"You can't just say sorry and then carry on like it's business as usual. When you have an incredibly important platform like he does, you do have to think about what you do and the signals that it sends out."<doc-sep>It’s the baby the world has been waiting to meet. Here’s your first look at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s adorable newborn. It’s the baby the world has been waiting to meet. Here’s your first look at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s adorable newborn.... BBC radio star Danny Baker has been fired over a “racist” royal baby tweet showing a picture of a monkey that he posted last night. The Radio 5 Live host was sacked after he was slammed yesterday for the post, which came just hours after Meghan Markle and Prince Harry showed off Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, The Sun reports. The tweet showed a picture of a couple clinging on to a monkey wearing a suit with the caption: “Royal baby leaves hospital”. I want to give Danny Baker the benefit of the doubt,but I’m really struggling to find any reasonable explanation for this tweet, now wisely deleted. pic.twitter.com/EtL1JUIu96 — Julia Hartley-Brewer (@JuliaHB1) May 8, 2019 Danny Baker posts an image comparing Archie - a Royal newborn with African heritage to an APE 🤬🤬 Danny Baker should be sacked by the morning !!! pic.twitter.com/vZ4OkLTJVI — Say It With Your Chest Podcast (@withyourchest) May 8, 2019 What shocks me about Danny Baker (@prodnose) posting this photo is that it seemingly never occurred to him how this might be adjudged racist. How have you become that blind to the world Danny? A mixed-race Royal baby & so you searched out a photo with a chimp? WTAF?! pic.twitter.com/vXJZ8fQjrs — Jim AK (@jamesak47) May 8, 2019 RACIST RACIST RACIST Danny Baker @prodnose should be given today to resign and clear his desk. If he is still there at 16.59 @bbc MUST FIRE HIM! I’m disgusted by the hate and racism inherent in his Tweet Unforgivable He’s not fit to be a broadcaster employed from the public purse pic.twitter.com/YymUUqHCRY — Cllr Joseph Ejiofor (@CllrEjiofor) May 9, 2019 He deleted the post and apologised, claiming it was a joke with no “connotations” and today spoke out again to say it was a “gag” about the baby being “posh”. Blaming an exaggerated Twitter storm, unapologetic Baker told The Sun: “You see these sorts of things happening to other people and you kill yourself laughing. “It’s a Twitter storm. The point is they (the BBC) have given credence to the vampires by claiming I meant it. It’s rotten.” Describing the moment he was told he’d lost his Saturday morning radio show, he said: “The BBC said they found it abhorrent. I told them ‘f*** you, and f*** off’. “That’s exactly what I said to them. It wasn’t a very long call.” Earlier, he tweeted about reporters showing up on his doorstep to ask him about the controversy. “Here we go,” he wrote. “Opened door, grinning Mail hack. ‘Do you think black people look like monkeys?’ Any other time you’d knock someone right on their a**e for saying that. “No mate. Gag pic. Posh baby chimp. Alerted to circs. Appalled. Deleted. Apologised.” He received backlash from users branding the post “racist” due to Meghan’s heritage. The Duchess of Sussex’s estranged dad Thomas Markle is white and mother Doria Ragland is black. BBC PRESENTER APOLOGISES In an apology, Baker said: “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. “Now stand by for sweary football tweets.” Once again. Sincere apologies for the stupid unthinking gag pic earlier. Was supposed to be joke about Royals vs circus animals in posh clothes but interpreted as about monkeys & race, so rightly deleted. Royal watching not my forte. Also, guessing it was my turn in the barrel. pic.twitter.com/86cQGbAhDc — Danny Baker (@prodnose) May 8, 2019 Here we go. Opened door, grinning Mail hack. "Do you think black people look like monkeys?" Any other time you'd knock someone right on their arse for saying that. No mate. Gag pic. Posh baby chimp. Alerted to circs. Appalled. Deleted. Apologised. He asks again! #MailonRacism — Danny Baker (@prodnose) May 9, 2019 Now Sky at the door. Would have used same stupid pic for any other Royal birth or Boris Johnson kid or even one of my own. It's a funny image. (Though not of course in that context.) Enormous mistake, for sure. Grotesque. Anyway, here's to ya Archie, Sorry mate.#Occam #Razor — Danny Baker (@prodnose) May 9, 2019 The call to fire me from @bbc5live was a masterclass of pompous faux-gravity. Took a tone that said I actually meant that ridiculous tweet and the BBC must uphold blah blah blah. Literally threw me under the bus. Could hear the suits knees knocking. #Fuckem — Danny Baker (@prodnose) May 9, 2019 This isn’t the first time the presenter has faced controversy - he was sacked from 5 Live in 1997 when station bosses alleged he had incited threatening behaviour in an outburst over a referee. When Chelsea beat Leicester City in the FA Cup tie that year he reportedly launched an attack on Mike Reed, the man who awarded the penalty that clinched it. And in 2012 he attacked the BBC on Twitter and on air after his show was cancelled. CALLS FOR BAKER TO BE AXED The star was fired after outraged Twitter users called on the BBC to axe him from his BBC Radio 5 Live Saturday show following the tweet. One said: “Imagine thinking that tweeting this would end well in 2019. Guess that’s Danny Baker cancelled, then...” Another wrote: “I’m assuming that The awful #BBC5Live Danny Baker programme will be cancelled. Please. #5Live.” So not only does Danny Baker post an image comparing a baby w African heritage to an ape, but he has the audacity to say problem is that those of us who point out how racist it is have “diseased minds”. Classic example of blaming those of us who call out racism for its existence pic.twitter.com/6gtKMpaHZY — Afua Hirsch (@afuahirsch) May 8, 2019 Sorry, Danny Baker needs to go. There's far too much tolerance of racism - the country is really in danger of slipping into a murky and ignorant abyss, a sludge made up of xenophobia, racial intolerance and insensitivity. A genuine lack of intelligence. Make it stop. — Philip Priestley 🇪🇺🇮🇪 (@PublicPriestley) May 8, 2019 In order to ‘make right’ his stupidity, Danny Baker has referred to those offended as “lunatics”, and tweeted the below. If he genuinely felt his tweet was stupid, and could honestly see the offence caused (as he’s suggested), he’d be saying “I’ve no one else to blame, I’m sorry” pic.twitter.com/g7KE6KAzJG — Alan Mehdizadeh (@alanmehdizadeh) May 9, 2019 I've followed Danny Baker's work for many many years now. Never heard a hint of racism, sexism or any other ism. It's never been part of his output or his persona. He does love a monkey gag/photo and I'm in no doubt he never meant the connotation that is making people so angry. — Dan M (@SirArthurIndeed) May 8, 2019 I reckon that jumping to that conclusion probably says a lot more about them than it does Danny. I didn't see it as anything other than a silly pic, but then my mind never goes to "black people = monkeys" so I wouldn't. — ColinTheWarriorMonkey (@CTWarriorMonkey) May 9, 2019 While one user said: “@BBC remove that racist pig Danny Baker for sending out that racist picture about the new #Royal baby. Disgraceful.” Baker is a comedy writer and radio DJ, he has been appearing on the BBC since the 1980s - with his next episode of The Danny Baker Show airing at 9am on Saturday on BBC 5 Live. He also currently produces a podcast with former footballer Gary Lineker called “Lineker and Baker: Behind Closed Doors”. His tweets came after Meghan and Harry proudly showed off their first born child yesterday to the world. The new parents appeared tired but ecstatic as they cradled the newborn, with mum Meghan gushing: “I have the best two guys in the world”. Meghan, 37, stunned in a white sleeveless dress as she stood by grinning new dad Prince Harry, 34, who wore a pale grey suit and navy tie. The new mother kept a watchful eye over her baby boy as she described life as a mum, saying: “It’s magic. “It’s pretty amazing. I have the best two guys in the world, so I’m really happy.” And she said the baby boy, who is just two days old, already had the “sweetest temperament” -—with Harry interjecting: “I don’t know who he gets that from!” The Prince later said: “Parenting is amazing. It’s only been what — two and a half days, three days — but we are just so thrilled to have our own little bundle of joy and to be able to spend some precious times with him as he slowly starts to grow up.” The Sun Online has approached the BBC for comment. Baker’s representatives told the Sun Online he would be making no further comment. This article originally appeared on The Sun and is published here with permission.<doc-sep>
Danny Baker was fired for tweeting a joke about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's son using a picture of a monkey. Photo: Getty A British radio host has been fired following uproar over a controversial photo he tweeted comparing the royal baby to a chimpanzee. On Wednesday, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry introduced their infant son, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, to the media. Shortly afterwards, BBC Radio 5 Live host Danny Baker, posted an old black-and-white photo of a couple accompanied by a well-dressed chimpanzee, captioning it “royal baby leaves hospital.” As London’s Metro newspaper reports, the tweet quickly sparked outcry and accusations of racism against the duchess, whose biracial background has been targeted by trolls. So Danny Baker some old 90's relic thinks it's a joke to depict the #RoyalBaby as a monkey. Racists now seem to think it's acceptable to post things like this. How did that happen? Something has seriously gone wrong with our society pic.twitter.com/gk3aQefAM8 — Nick (@Nick_BLM) May 8, 2019 This is a post by Danny Baker. The royal baby is less than three days old. Danny Baker works for the BBC. In any other field this would be gross misconduct. I await the "not a racist bone in my body" statement from Danny, or a P45 from the BBC. Only 3 days old. pic.twitter.com/jF9iUl4duO — (Almost) Always Positive 💙+ (@NubiBlue) May 9, 2019 Baker, a longtime radio and TV personality, deleted the photo and tweeted an apology that many felt fell short. The 61-year-old claimed that he hadn’t considered the racist connotations of the photo because his “mind [is] not diseased” — a statement that critics said put the blame on those offended and made light of mental health issues. Though he said he was “appalled” by the “silly unthinking gag,” he dismissed accusations of racism and insisted he would have “used same stupid pic for any other royal birth or [politician] Boris Johnson or even one of my own” because it’s “a funny pic.” Story continues I'm really confused about the message that #DannyBaker (@prodnose) was trying to convey? You had 3 other chances to post that photo when George, Charlotte and Louis were born but chose to post it now? You are not silly or ill informed! You my dear are a #racist! Pure and simple! — Ms Wright (@EyeOnYouBoo) May 9, 2019 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. Now stand by for sweary football tweets — Danny Baker (@prodnose) May 8, 2019 Despite denying any ill intentions, Baker announced Thursday morning that his “enormous mistake” cost him his job. He railed against the termination, tweeting that his BBC bosses “literally threw me under the bus.” “The call to fire me from @bbc5live was a masterclass of pompous faux-gravity,” he wrote. “Took a tone that said I actually meant that ridiculous tweet and the BBC must uphold blah blah blah. Literally threw me under the bus. Could hear the suits knees knocking.” Though some supporters are calling Baker’s firing an overreaction — “If, like me, you don't see the colour of Meghan's skin, it was indeed just a joke about posh people,” read one comment — many are celebrating the BBC’s decision. “Meghan has been subject to horrific/veiled racist abuse and prejudice online and in print since the start of their relationship,” noted British news anchor Charlene White in a Twitter thread. “Of which we are ALL aware.” “To post a pic picturing a 3-day old baby of mixed heritage as a monkey, then claim it was a joke? That’s old-school prejudice and racism at its peak.” Glad that Danny Baker has been fired. His tweet was outrageously racist and he had the audacity to turn the blame back on the people who called him out. I think we all know which of us has the ‘diseased mind’. #DannyBaker — Rosie (@RoseBuck_) May 9, 2019 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle introduced their son to the world on Wednesday. Photo: AAP Words by Erin Donnelly Got a story tip? Send it to lifestyle.tips@verizonmedia.com Want more lifestyle and celebrity news? Follow Yahoo Lifestyle on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Or sign up to our daily newsletter here.