Sacked Danny Baker: BBC bosses have thrown me under bus
The former presenter hits out at the way the BBC sacked him, describing it as "a masterclass of pompous faux-gravity".
Saturday 11 May 2019 08:59, UK
Danny Baker has admitted his tweet depicting the duke and duchess of Sussex's son as a monkey was "ridiculous, stupid and idiotic", but has insisted he is not racist.
The radio presenter has been sacked after 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."
He later apologised, writing: "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 wrote.
"Soon as those good enough to point out its possible connotations got in touch, down it came. And that's it."
It was Baker himself who announced via his Twitter account the decision by the BBC.
"Just got fired from @bbc5live. For the record - it was red sauce. Always," he said referring to a segment on his show.
Speaking to Sky News, the broadcaster said: "I've seen these things happen to other people but you never think it's going to happen to you.
"The unconscious and ridiculous tweet I did yesterday has started all this off."
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He insisted he was not some "slathering, secret racist, adding: "What I did was make a ridiculous, stupid and idiotic mistake."
But despite admitting the BBC had no choice but to sack him - he said the corporation could have handled it better.
He tweeted: "The call to fire me from 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."
A BBC spokesman said: "This was a serious error of judgement 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."
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Following his original tweet, other users reacted with anger with @nick_BLM writing: "All those people defending saying they can't see the connection between black people and sick racist monkey comments try being a black kid at school for a while!
The 61-year-old later deleted the post and apologised again, 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."
Harry and Meghan, whose mother is African American, revealed on Wednesday that their new arrival was named Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.