Congratulations are in order for Samantha Markle. Despite her expected rude comments in the wake of her half-sister and Prince Harry welcoming a son named Archie into the world on Monday… this bitter waste of television air time is no longer responsible for the most insensitive reaction to the arrival of the Royal Baby. Indeed, that dishonor has firmly been claimed instead by BBC host Danny Baker. A veteran broadcaster in Great Britain, the 61-year old reacted to Markle and Harry debuting their precious newborn to the world yesterday by… … Tweeting a photo of a chimp in a suit holding hands with a smartly dressed couple and writing as a caption; “Royal baby leaves hospital.” The snapshot, naturally, sparked immediate outrage due to the clear racist undertones against Markle, whose mother, Doria Ragland, is African American. Faced with this strongly deserved backlash, Baker deleted the message and said he was sorry the “gag” had “whipped some up.” He then claimed the negative connotations had not occurred to him because his “mind (is) not diseased,” taking the impressively bold approach of accusing critics of racism for pointing out his racism. In a second message, Baker said that the tweet was “supposed to be a joke about Royals vs circus animals in posh clothes but interpreted as about monkeys & race, so rightly deleted. Royal watching not my forte.” On Thursday, the broadcaster said he made an “enormous mistake.” But it was far too late to save his job. “This was a serious error of judgment and goes against the values we as a station aim to embody,” said a BBC spokesperson yesterday, adding: “Danny’s a brilliant broadcaster but will no longer be presenting a weekly show with us.” As you can see above, Baker tried to save face by appealing directly to Meghanm, Harry and their son, writing online: Would have used same stupid pic for any other Royal birth or Boris Johnson kid or even one of my own. It’s a funny image. (Though not of course in that context.) Enormous mistake, for sure. Grotesque. Anyway, here’s to ya Archie, Sorry mate. But then he also referred to his firing as a “masterclass of pompous faux-gravity” and slammed the network for taking this course of action by Tweeting: “Took a tone that said I actually meant that ridiculous tweet and the BBC must uphold blah blah blah,” he added. “Literally threw me under the bus. Could hear the suits knees knocking. #Fuckem. Ever since the announcement of her pregnancy, Markle has been a target of racist abuse across social media. In March, the Kensington Palace staff announced it would devote a bevy of resources to deleting comments targeting the Duchess of Sussex, and also to blocking abusive Twitter and Instagram accounts. Moreover, the Royal household issued a set of guidelines for people engaging with its social media channels. It’s all very disturbing, but we’re gonna choose to focus on the positive here instead — which is that Archie has arrived! “Mother and baby are doing incredibly well,” Harry said in his first public comments since becoming a father, adding in lovable fashion “This has been the most amazing experience I could possibly imagine. How any woman does what they do is beyond comprehension.” Amen, Prince. View Slideshow: Royal Baby Photos: Who Wore Their Blanket Best?
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Danny Baker, BBC Host, Fired for Comparing Royal Baby to a Chimp
