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Broadcaster Danny Baker has been fired from his role at the BBC over a now-deleted tweet comparing Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s newborn son to a chimpanzee.
Key points:
- Danny Baker was accused of mocking Meghan Markle’s African-American heritage
- BBC Radio 5 Live said the tweet was a “serious error of judgement” and Baker would no longer be presenting his weekly program
- Baker apologised for the “gag”, but has since accused the BBC of throwing him “under the bus”
The widely-circulated post showed an image of a couple holding hands with a chimpanzee wearing a hat and coat, alongside the caption: “Royal Baby leaves hospital”.
The BBC Radio 5 Live broadcaster was accused of mocking the Duchess of Sussex’s African-American heritage, with Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, who was born on Monday and will be seventh in line to the throne, becoming the first bi-racial British-American royal.
Following widespread criticism, Baker again took to Twitter in a bid to quell the controversy, apologising for the “gag” post.
“Sincere apologies for the stupid unthinking gag pic earlier,” he wrote.
“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.”
Hours later, the 61-year-old confirmed he had been fired from BBC Radio 5 Live, in a call he described as “a masterclass of pompous faux-gravity”.
“[The call] took a tone that said I actually meant that ridiculous tweet and the BBC must uphold blah blah blah,” he tweeted.
“Literally threw me under the bus. Could hear the suits’ knees knocking.”
In a statement to BBC News, a spokesperson for the corporation said Baker’s tweet was “a serious error of judgement” 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,” they added.
Since marrying into the royal family, Meghan Markle — whose mother Doria Ragland is African-American — has become a target of vicious online trolling, with the level of racist abuse so severe Kensington Palace was forced to set up new guidelines for its social media channels.
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from Trend Gossip Now http://bit.ly/2DWfVdG
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