Danny Baker apologises for ‘shamefully racist’ Royal Baby tweet: ‘A catastrophic mistake’

Danny Baker speaking at his London home after he was fired by BBC Radio 5 Live for tweeting a joke about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex?s son using a picture of a monkey. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Thursday May 9, 2019. See PA story SHOWBIZ Baker. Photo credit should read: Victoria Jones/PA Wire — Danny has lost his job at the BBC (Picture: Victoria Jones/PA Wire)

Danny Baker has apologised for tweeting a ‘shamefully racist’ picture about the Royal Baby – calling it a ‘genuine, naive and catastrophic mistake’.

The broadcaster was yesterday fired from BBC Radio 5 Live after he tweeted a photo of a couple holding hands with a chimpanzee, with the caption: ‘Royal baby leaves hospital.’

This came after Meghan Markle – whose mother Doria Ragland is African American – and Prince Harry introduced son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor to the world.

And a day after he lost his job, the 61-year-old issued a string of tweets, apologising for the tweet and saying he is paying the price for the ‘crass blunder’.

Danny wrote: ‘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.

Danny Baker apology

‘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 continued: ‘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.’