Dara Ó Briain criticises BBC for firing Danny Baker over ‘racist’ royal baby tweet

A BBC spokesperson said the former 5 Live presenter displayed ‘a serious error of judgment’ with controversial post

Dara Ó Briain has defended fellow comedian Danny Baker, who was fired from the BBC after tweeting about the royal baby using a photo of a chimpanzee.

Baker, 61, was accused of racism after seemingly mocking Meghan Markle’s heritage in a now deleted post that featured an image of two people holding hands with a small monkey dressed in a suit.

He posted it, moments after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex revealed their son, with the caption: “Royal baby leaves hospital.”

Baker later confirmed he had been by sacked BBC 5 Live on Twitter, writing: “Just got fired from @bbc5live.” 

Ó Briain tweeted in response to the decision: “What? Danny Baker got fired? But he immediately apologised and deleted the tweet! I mean, literally, in the event of mistakenly causing offence, what else can you do? Genuinely amazed by that.”

After a backlash from fans, he added: “Also amazed by how many thought that by posting this, I was excusing the original tweet. Of course I wasn’t. The Irish had a century of that monkey s*** too, y’know. Ultimately, though, I’d like that to hope if/when I f*** up, you might accept an apology...”

When a Twitter user argued that it’s impossible Baker wouldn’t have been aware of the racist connotations of his tweet, he replied: “I just don’t think Danny is some racist who did that deliberately, no matter how it came out. You say f**k him, I say forgive him, but we agree on way more... I just hate the ‘it’s over- cancel him’ culture of total certainty here, and I think it makes all judgements total and final.”

Baker, who called the tweet an “idiotic” mistake, has since insisted he’s not racist in an interview with Sky News.

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A BBC spokesperson said: “This was a serious error of judgment and 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 issued an angry reply to the news on social media, accusing bosses of “throwing him under the bus.”

Upon receiving backlash to the tweet, Baker swiftly removed it and commented: “Sorry my gag pic of the little fella in the posh outfit has whipped some up. Never occurred to me because, well, mind not diseased.”

“Soon as those good enough to point out it’s possible connotations got in touch, down it came. And that’s it.”

The royal baby – whose name is Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor – was born on Monday 6 May before making his first public appearance at Windsor Castle two days later.