Danny Baker

Radio presenter Danny Baker has been fired by the Beeb for posting a tweet about the new
Royal infant. It apparently showed a clothed chimpanzee holding hands with two adults under
the caption " Royal baby leaves Hospital." His sacking might mean that he gets more time to follow
his beloved Millwall FC next season.?

 

Never understood why people rated him personally. Hes old enough and ugly enough to know he shouldn't face tweeted that.

 

Bet Prince Philip retweeted it and was peeing himself laughing

 

In all seriousness,even in the context he said he was trying to make a joke out of it ,it was not funny,reckon he wanted paying off from Beeb,thought I know a monkey baby picture should do it

 

Not seen the tweet in question, but sounds misjudged at best.

I really wanted to like his show... but never really could. Always came across as trying too hard to be funny, rather than just being funny. All a little contrived. Didnt like the way he tended to speak over callers telling a story.

So Meh.

 

What a pillock, I can’t believe he’d tweet something like that and not expect repercussions.

 

I blame him and Chris Evans for the damage they did to Paul Gascoigne.

 

It does seem to be misjudged joke rather than anything more sinister. James O'Brien has been discussing it this morning and it seems that Baker has been doing this (using monkeys dressed as humans) for a long time as humour. James, who is usually all over racism like a rash, has defended him as a man saying he hasn't got a racist bone in his body but also acknowledged that in these times the joke couldn't be ignored and the BBC had no option other than sacking him.
Baker called in and discussed everything and he accepts that his sacking was inevitable.

 

In his position he should have been more sensitive even if he did think it was a harmless, non-racist joke. The other issue is does he deserve to be sacked for it? Would a suspension or written warning have sufficed?

 

Used to like him but that's just stupid!

 

Isn't a joke supposed to be funny though? Not sure what he was thinking 'Harry's just had a baby I know I'll send this caption out of a baby chimpanzee holding hands with 2 adults and the letters royal baby leaves hospital people will find that funny..... No. Feel half sorry for this royal baby I not a great fan of the royals but on social media I've seen some distasteful stuff from even when she was announced pregnant.

 

Well that appears to be the problem. Humour is very subjective and while I just don't find pictures of monkeys dressed as humans funny at all it seems some people did and that is why Baker has been doing it for years. What Baker failed to consider was that using this style of humour about a mixed race baby crossed the line and became racist even if that was not his intention.

 

Baker is a dick. And I think you all know my feeing on the Royals. But no one deserves to have their children made to be compared to an animal.
Absolutely disgusting. But I wonder if there would have been the same outcry had it not involved the royals.
Anyway, Baker deserves all he gets and more.

 

I like some of Danny Baker's stuff. When 606 originally started I think he made it a good programme. I liked the autobiographical comedy series he did. A lot of people have a shelf life though and start trying too hard to stay relevant.
Time for the pipe and slippers Danny it seems.

 

Totally misguided but innocent. I remember when things like this could be discussed without social media outrage.

Why not a word in his ear to say “that was a stupid thing to do and could you please issue an apology to people who may have misconstrued your intentions?”

And people wonder why populism is on the rise?

 

A few years ago this would have been a likely outcome but I just don't think the BBC would get away with an apology for this. The reason I believe that dismissal was the only outcome is that although most people, including those who know or who follow Baker, believe is that the intention of the tweet was humour and not racism it was really poor judgement for him to do this in 2019. If the BBC just accepted an apology then if somebody with more sinister intentions posted something that was deemed to be racist then they could and would be judged of double-standards if they sacked them but hadn't sacked Baker. I believe 100% that Baker meant no harm in doing what he did but he seems to lack understanding of social media and has paid the price for his naivety.

 

A disgusting tweet and not in a million years innocent. Immediate sacking the least the BBC should do.
However that should have been it - sack the fool and move on, like they did with Clarkson. Publicising it on the news when most of us would never have known is nearly as bad and multiplies many times the offence it has caused.

 

Genuinely didn't understand why he was sacked until reading this thread. I couldn't for the life of me understand why anyone thought the Tweet even remotely offensive. I thought the baby must be particularly hairy or something (I haven't seen pictures, it's not a subject that interests me.) It never occurred to me that it had any racial connotations.

 

If you believe that I presume you don't find monkey chants at games remotely offensive?

 

Yes I do, I know they're aimed at black players. In this case, it never entered my head that it was racially motivated. I'm not claiming I know what Danny Baker intended, I have no idea, I'm telling you how I interpreted it.