Danny Baker blasts 'pompous' BBC bosses who fired him over his 'joke' Royal baby monkey tweet

Danny Baker today blasted 'pompous' BBC bosses after he was fired for a 'joke' tweet of a couple with a monkey that he posted hours after the royal baby was unveiled.

The BBC Radio 5 Live host said he had been 'literally thrown under the bus' as he was fired over the phone this morning and later revealed he had told station chiefs to 'f*** off.'

The broadcaster, who denied he was racist as he spoke on the doorstep of his £2million home, sparked outrage after uploading an image of a couple holding hands with a monkey in a suit with the caption: 'Royal baby leaves hospital.'

Baker, 61, deleted the picture as soon as he realised the controversy and later branded it a 'stupid unthinking gag' when he was hit by a huge backlash, insisting that it was about 'privilege and class' and not race.

He had posted the image just hours after Prince Harry and Meghan, whose mother Doria Ragland is African American, showed off baby Archie to the world at Windsor Castle yesterday. 

He told MailOnline from his home in Blackheath, south east London this morning that he was 'shocked at my own foolishness'  and uploaded 'a silly photo for a joke.'

Later he revealed that he had told the head of BBC Five Live to 'f*** off' and was 'not temperate'  when he heard he would no longer be working at the station.

He also said it there were 'other broadcasters they wouldn't have done that to' as many observers pointed out that the BBC failed to sack Apprentice star Alan Sugar after he compared the Senegal football team to beach sellers in Spain.

Baker said he had became infuriated when told he had 'meant' to be racist by tweeting the picture of a chimpanzee in a hat being led out of a hospital by human parents. 

Today Baker won the support of some celebrity friends, including the former Tory MP and broadcaster Gyles Brandeth, and radio host Iain Lee, who said he was 'gutted' for him.





MailOnline