Broadcaster Danny Baker has been fired by BBC Radio 5 Live after tweeting a joke about the Duke and Duchess Of Sussex’s son using a picture of a monkey.
Harry and Meghan, whose mother is African American, revealed on Wednesday that their new arrival was named Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.
Radio DJ Baker made a joke about the birth in a now-deleted tweet, posting a black and white photo showing a well-dressed man and woman holding hands with a suited chimpanzee.
Baker captioned it: “Royal baby leaves hospital”.
Following a backlash and allegations of racism, he deleted the post and apologised.
But this morning, the veteran broadcaster tweeted: “Just got fired from @bbc5live. For the record – it was red sauce. Always.”
A BBC spokesman 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.”
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 insisted that he did not intend any racial connotations with the joke.
Tweeting yesterday, he 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 [sic] possible connotations got in touch, down it came. And that’s it.”
The 61-year-old, who presents a weekly show on the station, apologised again on Wednesday evening, saying the joke 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. Royal watching not my forte.
Also, guessing it was my turn in the barrel. pic.twitter.com/86cQGbAhDc— Danny Baker (@prodnose) May 8, 2019
He said: “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.”
The BBC has not yet confirmed Baker’s sacking.
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