Photo: The Canadian Press The Royal Regiment of Scotland band march by Windsor Castle, in Windsor, south England, Tuesday, May 7, 2019, a day after Prince Harry announced that his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, had given birth to a boy. A BBC disc jockey has been fired after using a picture of a chimpanzee in a tweet about the royal baby born to Meghan the Duchess of Sussex and her husband Prince Harry. Danny Baker tweeted Thursday that he has been fired after posting an image of a couple holding hands with a chimpanzee dressed in clothes and the caption: "Royal baby leaves hospital." The tweet was seen as a racist reference to baby Archie's heritage. His grandmother Doria Ragland is African American. Baker says the posting was an "enormous mistake." It has since been deleted. BBC Radio 5 Live controller Jonathan Wall said Baker "will no longer be presenting his weekly show for us." Wall says Baker "made a serious error of judgment on social media."<doc-sep>Share this Story: BBC radio personality fired over royal baby chimpanzee tweet BBC radio personality fired over royal baby chimpanzee tweet Photo by Yui Mok / AP Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. Article content LONDON — A BBC DJ was fired Thursday after using a picture of a chimpanzee in a tweet about the royal baby born to Meghan the Duchess of Sussex and her husband Prince Harry. Danny Baker, who had a weekly show on BBC Radio 5 Live, tweeted Thursday that he has been fired after posting an image of a couple holding hands with a chimpanzee dressed in clothes and the caption: “Royal baby leaves hospital.” We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or BBC radio personality fired over royal baby chimpanzee tweet Back to video Just got fired from @bbc5live. For the record - it was red sauce. Always. — Danny Baker (@prodnose) May 9, 2019 Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content The tweet came on Wednesday, the same day Harry and Meghan posed for photos with their first child, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor. The tweet was seen as a racist reference to baby Archie’s heritage. His grandmother Doria Ragland is African American. Baker, 61, said the posting had been meant as a gag, tweeting late Wednesday that it was “supposed to be (a) joke about royals vs circus animals in posh clothes but interpreted as about monkeys & race.” The post has since been deleted. “Enormous mistake, for sure. Grotesque. Anyway, here’s to ya Archie, Sorry mate,” he tweeted. 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 Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content BBC Radio 5 Live controller Jonathan Wall said in an email to staff that Baker had shown poor judgment. “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,” Wall said. On Thursday, Baker insisted he is not racist and attacked the BBC for its handling of the situation. He said the call to fire him “was a masterclass of pompous faux-gravity.” When Harry was first dating Meghan, his office released a scathing letter in which he complained about sexist and racist coverage of Meghan, who at the time was starring in the TV show “Suits.” The flap over Baker’s tweet came as Harry took a break from parental duties to travel to the Netherlands to promote the 2020 Invictus Games, an international competition he founded for injured service personnel and veterans. Harry grinned and made funny faces for the cameras as he held up a tiny baby outfit given to him by Prince Margriet of the Netherlands. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Baby Archie was introduced to his great-grandparents, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Wednesday. Share this article in your social network Latest National Stories Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Trending<doc-sep>A BBC disk jockey has been fired after using a picture of a chimpanzee in a tweet about the royal baby born to Meghan the Duchess of Sussex and her husband Prince Harry. Danny Baker tweeted Thursday that he has been fired after posting an image of a couple holding hands with a chimpanzee dressed in clothes and the caption: “Royal baby leaves hospital.” The tweet was seen as a racist reference to baby Archie’s racial heritage. His grandmother Doria Ragland is an African-American. Baker says the posting was an “enormous mistake.” It has since been deleted. BBC Radio 5 Live controller Jonathan Wall said Baker “will no longer be presenting his weekly show for us.” Wall says Baker “made a serious error of judgment on social media.”<doc-sep>
Send this page to someone via email A BBC disc jockey has been fired after using a picture of a chimpanzee in a tweet about the royal baby born to Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, and her husband, Prince Harry. Danny Baker tweeted Thursday that he has been fired after posting an image of a couple holding hands with a chimpanzee dressed in clothes and the caption: “Royal baby leaves hospital.” Casual racism is alive & well. ‘Celebrity’ Danny Baker depicts the royal baby Sussex as a monkey. Excellent. We’ve come so far. It’s fair to say the monkey in the photo is a lot smarter than Danny Baker, and a lot better looking, too. pic.twitter.com/t6OFFR5wxW — Alan Mehdizadeh (@alanmehdizadeh) May 8, 2019 The tweet was seen as a racist reference to baby Archie’s heritage. His grandmother Doria Ragland is African-American. Story continues below advertisement View image in full screen Danny Baker speaks to the media at his London home on Thursday, May 9, 2019. (Victoria Jones/PA via AP) Danny Baker gag. Seems people refuse to get the *cheeky little monkey* royal baby gag. pic.twitter.com/AIOUuuo4ey — LangleyBristol (@LangleyBristol) May 9, 2019 Baker says the posting was an “enormous mistake.” It has since been deleted. Just got fired from @bbc5live. For the record – it was red sauce. Always. — Danny Baker (@prodnose) May 9, 2019 BBC Radio 5 Live controller Jonathan Wall said Baker “will no longer be presenting his weekly show for us.” Wall says Baker “made a serious error of judgement on social media.” In email sent to all 5 Live staff, controller Jonathan Wall said: “Danny made a serious error of judgement on social media last night and it goes against the values we live and breathe on this radio station.” — Scott Bryan (@scottygb) May 9, 2019