Radio DJ Danny Baker has been fired from BBC Radio 5 Live after he posted a tweet about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex‘s baby son that featured an image of a monkey.
Mr Baker’s tweet, a black and white photo showing a well-dressed couple holding hands with a chimpanzee in a suit, was posted on Wednesday evening, shortly after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle presented their son Archie to the media.
The caption read: “Royal baby leaves hospital.”
A short while later Mr Baker removed the tweet and said: “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.”
Mr Baker’s initial tweet was widely criticised on social media. Star Wars actor Hugh Quarshie said: “There are racists, there are casual racists and there are racists who don’t realise they are racists. Which one is Danny Baker?”
Meghan, wife of Prince Harry, gave birth in the early hours of Monday morning to a baby boy, Archie, the first mixed race child to be born into a senior position in British royalty in recent history.
“Just got fired,” Danny Baker, a broadcaster with BBC Radio 5 Live, said on Twitter. The BBC also reported the news.
The 5Live presenter was accused of mocking the duchess’s racial heritage.
A BBC spokesperson said: “This was a serious error of judgment.”
The corporation added that Baker’s tweet “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.”