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 and said 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.
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 said he 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.
But he insisted the picture was actually about ‘class and privilege’, not race.
Basically they said to me ‘you meant that tweet’ I said to them ‘you think so?,’ he told MailOnline.
‘And I said, ‘well f*** you and f*** off’.
‘So, by mutual agreement my employment was terminated. ‘They did not give me a chance to apologise.
‘But I’m not very temperate anyway when people want to get rid of me. There’s no conversation.
‘But for them to throw us under the bus.
‘They wouldn’t have done it to certain Radio Four presenters. They would have had them in to discuss it.’
Baker said he understood that the tweet could give offence but was angered that his employer failed to listen to him.
Recalling his dismissal, he said: ‘In a shocking faux-portentous gravitas way, [he said] ‘We found this to be abhorrent.’
‘Yes it was [abhorrent]. And I was aware of the context of it I took it down.
‘So I said ‘F*** you, f*** off.’
He continued: ‘If I had had a grandchild yesterday I would have put that photo up. ‘Once I was made aware of the context I said ‘oh shit’ and took it down.