Radio host Danny Baker has accused the BBC of 'throwing him under the bus" after being fired for a controversial tweet about the royal baby.
The 5 Live presenter, 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.”
The broadcaster, who called the tweet an "idiotic" mistake, has insisted he's not racist in an interview with Sky News
But spokesperson for the BBC 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.”
Responding to the channel's decision, Baker described ”the call to fire” him as “a masterclass of pompous faux-gravity.”
He said that bosses "took a tone that said [he] actually meant that ridiculous tweet," adding: "[they] literally threw me under the bus. Could hear the suits knees knocking."
Baker’s tweet received a huge backlash on social media following which 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."
He continued: “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.
