BBC host Danny Baker fired after comparing royal baby Archie to a chimp
One of Britain’s best-known broadcasters was fired by the BBC on Thursday for a tweet he wrote comparing the new royal baby to a chimp.
Danny Baker, 61, tweeted out a photo of a chimp in a suit holding hands with a smartly dressed couple, writing, “Royal baby leaves hospital.”
It sparked instant outrage because of the clear racist undertones against Duchess of Sussex Meghan, 37, whose mom, Doria Ragland, is African American.
Baker admitted it had been a “stupid unthinking gag” — but insisted it was an innocent dig at the royals that was being wildly misinterpreted.
“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.”
He later called the backfired joke “grotesque” and “an enormous mistake,” sending a message to Harry and Meghan’s newborn Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, “Here’s to ya Archie, Sorry mate.”
His apologies were not enough, however, with him soon tweeting, “Just got fired.”
“This was a serious error of judgment,” insisted a BBC spokesman, saying the joke “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 remained defiant, damning the call to fire him as 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,” he added. “Literally threw me under the bus. Could hear the suits knees knocking.” He ended the message, “#F–kem.”
Royal baby Archie was born Monday, with proud parents Meghan and Prince Harry publicly debuting him Wednesday.
Photo Credit: nypost.com/AP