DANNY BAKER has issued an apology for the Royal baby tweet that saw him fired from his role as a presenter on BBC Radio 5 Live.
Baker lost his job after tweeting out a photo of a couple holding hands with a chimpanzee alongside the caption: “Royal baby leaves hospital.”
Baker’s tweet was condemned by many on social media as racist, coming on the morning Meghan Markle – who is of African-American descent – and Prince Harry made their first public appearance alongside their newborn son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.
A day on from being sacked by the BBC, Baker issued a lengthy apology on Twitter, branding his original tweet “shamefully racist” and a “crass blunder”.
Danny tweeted: “Following one of the worst days of my life I just want to formally apologise for the outrage I caused and explain how I got myself into this mess. I chose the wrong photo to illustrate a joke. Disastrously so.
“In attempting to lampoon privilege & the news cycle I went to a file of goofy pictures & saw the chimp dressed as a Lord and thought, “That’s the one!” Had I kept searching I might have chosen General Tom Thumb or even a a baby in a crown. But I didn’t. God knows I wish had.
“Minutes later I was alerted by followers that this royal baby was of course mixed race and waves of panic and revulsion washed over me. F***, what had I done? I needed no lessons on the centuries slurs equating simians and people of colour. Racism at its basest.
“I am aware black people do not need a white man to tell them this. Deleting it immediately and apologising for the awful gaffe I even foolishly tried to make light of it. (My situation that is, not the racism involved.) Too late and here I am.”
He added: “I would like once and for all to apologise to every single person who, quite naturally, took the awful connection at face value. I understand that and all of the clamour and opprobrium I have faced since. I am not feeling sorry for myself. I f***ed up. Badly.
“But it was a genuine, naive and catastrophic mistake. There is of course little media/twitter traction in such a straight-forward explanation. The picture in context as presented was obviously shamefully racist. It was never intended so – seriously who on earth would “go there”?
“Anyway I am now paying the price for this crass & regrettable blunder and rightly so. Probably even this final word from me will extend the mania. (“Dog whistle” anyone?) I would like to thank friends on here for their kinder words and once again – I am so, so sorry.”
