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British radio host Danny Baker fired after racist tweet about Royal Baby Archie, tells bosses to ‘f--k off’

Not everyone seems to be happy about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s new bundle of joy.
Danny Baker deleted his tweet, but it circulated widely online and drew outrage for its racist imagery.CreditCreditYui Mok/Press Association, via Associated Press

Danny Baker deleted his tweet, but it circulated widely online and drew outrage for its racist imagery.CreditCreditYui Mok/Press Association, via Associated Press

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LONDON - MAY 11: Danny Baker arrives for the Sony Radio Academy Awards at the Grosvenor House Hotel on May 11, 2009 in London, England. (Photo by Frantzesco Kangaris/Getty Images) (Getty Images)


A day after Royal Baby Archie was born, BBC disc jockey Danny Baker took to Twitter to post a black and white image of a couple holding hands with a chimpanzee dressed in clothes and the caption: “Royal baby leaves hospital.”

For his “serious error in judgment,” the 61-year old radio personality, who hosted a weekly call-in show on BBC’s news and sports-focused Radio 5 Live, was fired.

In an email to the staff, BBC Radio 5 Live controller Jonathan Wall said Baker’s poor choice “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,” he wrote of the Thursday firing.

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The tweet was made the same day Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and her husband Prince Harry posed for photos with Archibald “Archie” Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, who is seventh in line for the throne.
 

Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, introduce their newborn son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor during a photocall in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle, Windsor, south England, on Wednesday.
Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, introduce their newborn son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor during a photocall in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle, Windsor, south England, on Wednesday. (Dominic Lipinski / AP)



The Twitterverse went into overdrive for the since-deleted tweet, which has been deemed as a racist, referencing baby Archie’s African-American lineage. The first multiracial baby of the monarchy, the newborn has become a global media sensation.

Baker announced his ouster on Twitter to his 500,000 followers and later apologetically offered an explanation for his bad judgment.

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“Would have used same stupid pic for any other Royal birth or Boris Johnson kid or even one of my own,” he wrote. “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.”

Later, he took his former bosses to task for the firing on Twitter, referring to it as “a masterclass of pompous faux-gravity,” adding that the BBC “literally threw me under the bus.”

Baker lambasted the brass further when reporters showed up to his London home.

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"You see these sorts of things happening to other people and you kill yourself laughing,” reported “The Sun.” "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."

"The BBC said they found it abhorrent,” he furthered.

“I told them ‘f--k you, and f--k off’. That’s exactly what I said to them. It wasn’t a very long call.”

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Scarlette Douglas, who hosts the BBC 5 Live podcast “The Sista Collective” said that she didn’t think it was “really an apology.”

“I think somebody told him, ‘Oh what you said was incorrect, or what you tweeted was incorrect so you should maybe say something or take it down … I don’t think that it’s right and I think subsequently what’s now happened is correct,” she told BBC News.

The BBC didn’t have a choice but to fire Baker, Douglas said: “I think you have to set a precedence for everybody else who is following or who attempts to follow in his footsteps.”

Source: NY Daily News:

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