The BBC fired a radio personality this week after he posted a racist tweet targeting Prince Harry, Duchess Meghan and their newborn baby, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor. The New York Times reported that the host, Danny Baker, was fired from the news agency on Thursday, days after he tweeted a photo showing a couple holding hands with a chimpanzee in a suit. The tweet was captioned: “Royal baby leaves hospital.” ADVERTISEMENT Baker had reportedly posted that tweet, which has since been deleted, on Wednesday, shortly after Archie made his debut to the public. The BBC’s Radio 5 Live, where Baker used to host a weekend broadcast, confirmed Baker’s firing in a statement to the Times that was released on Friday. In the statement, the platform condemned Baker’s tweet as something that “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,” it added. Baker also confirmed his firing in a tweet on Friday and appeared to express some kind of apology for the racist post in another tweet the night before. “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,” he said in the post. “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.” 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 Baker also attacked his former employer's move to fire him in another tweet as "a masterclass of pompous faux-gravity." 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 Since the royal couple introduced Archie to the public this week, several media outlets have also come under fire for posts critics labelled as racist. CNN also faced criticism earlier this week for a publishing a piece touching on racial issues and stereotypes surrounding Archie’s birth that included the subhead, “How black will the royal baby be?" My God @CNN just legitimately asked “How black will the royal baby be?” **and 100% un-ironically warned** “commentators who reinforce dangerous racist stereotypes are totally unaware of the damage”‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/TBd3Amgg7G — Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@QasimRashid) May 7, 2019 “Guys. GUYS. Whether the royal baby is SUPER-DUPER BLACK or whether it’s NORMAL, let’s all agree to not be racist because that’s really really uncool, mmkay?” - CNN pic.twitter.com/bUZ1VQohLK — Eric Haywood (@EricHaywood) May 7, 2019 The Los Angeles Times also faced heat from social media users earlier this week after it shared an opinion piece shortly after Archie's birth, titled: "Will Meghan Markle and Prince Harry raise their baby to be black?"<doc-sep>"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>See the recovery efforts in Gaza as ceasefire appears to hold 'Is everything I'm trying to do pointless? ': Syrians helpless in face of 'sham' election Brother of journalist detained in Myanmar says family is hopeful Report: US companies may have benefited from forced labor of Uyghurs Residents stand near stalls along a road amidst debris while strong winds batter Balasore district in Odisha state on May 26, 2021 as Cyclone Yaas barrels towards India's eastern coast in the Bay of Bengal. (Photo by Dibyangshu SARKAR / AFP) (Photo by DIBYANGSHU SARKAR/AFP via Getty Images) France's President Emmanuel Macron (L) and Rwanda's President Paul Kagame speak as they walk in the grounds of The Presidential Palace in Kigali on May 27, 2021, after their press conference and prior to their official luncheon. - French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Rwanda on May 27, 2021, for a highly symbolic visit aimed at moving on from three decades of diplomatic tensions over France's role in the 1994 genocide in the country. Macron is the first French leader since 2010 to visit the East African nation, which has long accused France of complicity in the killing of some 800,000 mostly Tutsi Rwandans. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP) (Photo by LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP via Getty Images) Relative of detained Iranian-Americans fears they will not survive RABAT, MOROCCO - FEBRUARY 25: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex walk through the walled public Andalusian Gardens which has exotic plants, flowers and fruit trees during a visit on February 25, 2019 in Rabat, Morocco. (Photo by Facundo Arrizabalaga - Pool/Getty Images) (CNN Business) — BBC radio broadcaster Danny Baker has been fired after posting a racist tweet about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s new baby. On Wednesday, the BBC Radio 5 Live presenter tweeted a black and white photo of a man and woman holding hands with a chimpanzee in a suit and a top hat, with the caption, “Royal baby leaves hospital.” Amid widespread accusations of racism, Baker deleted the tweet and said he was sorry the “gag” had “whipped some up.” He claimed the connotations had not occurred to him because his “mind (is) not diseased.” In a second message, Baker said that the tweet was “supposed to be a joke about Royals vs circus animals in posh clothes but interpreted as about monkeys & race, so rightly deleted. Royal watching not my forte.” On Thursday, the broadcaster said he made an “enormous mistake.” 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 responded defiantly to the decision, saying on Twitter that the calls for his dismissal were a “masterclass in pompous faux-gravity” and that the BBC “literally threw me under the bus.” Prince Harry and Meghan’s newborn son, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, was born early on Monday morning. On Wednesday, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex presented the baby, their first, to the world in front of selected media. In a significant milestone for British society, the newborn has made history by becoming the first biracial child in the royal family. Since the announcement of her pregnancy, Meghan has been a target of racist abuse across social media. In March, Kensington Palace staff announced they would devote more resources to deleting comments targeting the Duchess of Sussex, and to blocking abusive Twitter and Instagram accounts. The royal household also issued a set of guidelines for people engaging with its social media channels.<doc-sep>The broadcaster Danny Baker has been fired by BBC Radio 5 Live following allegations of racism over a tweet about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s newborn son, Archie, that featured a picture of a chimpanzee. The tweet, which has since been deleted by Baker, showed a black and white photo of a well-dressed couple next to a suited chimpanzee with the caption: “Royal baby leaves hospital.” Baker apologised for using the picture but was sacked on Thursday morning, leading him to lash out at the corporation over its handling of the incident. 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.” Prince Harry and Meghan, whose mother is African American, revealed on Wednesday their new arrival was named Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor. Following allegations of racism over the tweet, Baker deleted the post on Wednesday. “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,” he said. “Soon as those good enough to point out it’s possible connotations got in touch, down it came. And that’s it.” Baker, 61, repeated his apology on Wednesday evening, saying the post was intended to poke fun at the royal family. “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,” he said on Twitter. “Royal watching not my forte. Also, guessing it was my turn in the barrel.” After the BBC sacked him, Baker attacked the corporation for its handling of the decision, which he called “a masterclass of pompous faux-gravity”. He tweeted: “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.” In an LBC interview after he was fired, Baker told James O’Brien: “It was put up there as a joke about class. It was supposed to be preposterous about toffs leaving. The idea that there was any racial basis for it … it came out of my own ignorance. “I curdled that I thought anyone could have thought that was the intent behind that photo.” Many public figures felt the BBC had made the right decision. Charlene White, an anchor at ITV News, said: “To claim ‘ignorance’, and give a half-hearted apology – again full of jokey ‘banter’ – despite people highlighting just how clearly offensive it is, is also unacceptable. That’s not the world we live in now. Those who live in privilege must be held to account.” The writer and broadcaster Afua Hirsch tweeted: “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’.” Baker, a prominent and popular voice on the BBC and elsewhere for decades, has had run-ins with the corporation before. In 1997, he was sacked from the same station after it was alleged he had incited threatening behaviour after a referee awarded a controversial penalty in an FA cup tie. In 2012, after his afternoon show on BBC London was axed, he said on Twitter: “BBC asked me not to say anything just yet about axing best show on British radio. Why? Because it’s embarrassing? Because they’ll look bad?” He later branded his bosses “pinheaded weasels” during an on-air rant during the programme. The DJ and comedy writer has been working intermittently for the BBC since the 1980s.<doc-sep>
A veteran BBC radio host has been fired over a “racist” tweet about the new royal baby. Danny Baker, who presents a show on BBC Radio 5 Live, tweeted then deleted an image comparing newborn Archie Harrison to a chimp. The 61-year-old apologized and deleted the tweet but later slammed the BBC for the way he was fired. “The call to fire me from @bbc5live was a masterclass of pompous faux-gravity,” he tweeted Thursday. “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.” The offending tweet showed a black and white image of a couple holding hands with a chimpanzee dressed in a suit and hat with the caption: "Royal baby leaves hospital." Baker called the tweet a “stupid unthinking gag.” “Was supposed to be joke about Royals vs circus animals in posh clothes but interpreted as about monkeys and race, so rightly deleted,” he wrote. “Royal watching not my forte. Also, guessing it was my turn in the barrel.” Baby Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor was born to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan on Monday May 6. Baker received swift backlash from Twitter users branding the post "racist" due to Meghan's heritage - her estranged dad Thomas Markle is white and mother Doria Ragland is African-American. “Sorry my gag pic of the little fella in the posh outfit has whipped some up,” he wrote. “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.” Baker, who has more than half a million followers on Twitter, described being doorstepped by reporters, one of whom asked: “Do you think black people look like monkeys?” “No mate. Gag pic. Posh baby chimp. Alerted to circs. Appalled. Deleted. Apologised,” he tweeted. A BBC spokesperson called the tweet “a serious error of judgement." The corporation added that Baker's tweet "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," the spokesman said. Baker is an award-winning broadcaster and was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2012. It's the second time the controversial presenter has been axed by 5 Live and the third time he has left the BBC. “Would have used same stupid pic for any other Royal birth or Boris Johnson kid or even one of my own,” Baker tweeted. “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.”