General
I messed up badly, sacked BBC presenter apologises over royal baby ape tweet
Former BBC presenter Danny Baker, who was sacked over his derogatory tweet about the newly-born British royal baby, has apologised for the offensive post.
He noted that the controversial tweet was a genuine, naive and catastrophic mistake, and admitted that he “fucked up badly.”
WuzupNaija reports that the 61-year-old broadcaster sparked outrage on Wednesday after sharing the photo of a chimpanzee dressed in clothes with the caption: “Royal baby leaves hospital.”
He shared the tweet a few hours after Meghan Markle and Prince Harry showed off little Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.
He later deleted the tweet and apologised the same day, but that did not stop the BBC from taking action against him.
A remorseful Baker, however, took to Twitter on Friday morning to, once again, apologise over the outrage his offensive racist tweet generated.
In a series of tweet, he noted that he regretted his action and said he is now paying the price for his crass and regrettable blunder.
He wrote,
“Good morning, everyone. Following one of the worst days of my life I just want to formally apologise for the outrage I caused and explain how I got myself into this mess. I chose the wrong photo to illustrate a joke. Disastrously so.
“In attempting to lampoon privilege & the news cycle I went to a file of goofy pictures & saw the chimp dressed as a Lord and thought, “That’s the one!” Had I kept searching I might have chosen General Tom Thumb or even a a baby in a crown. But I didn’t. God knows I wish had.
“Minutes later I was alerted by followers that this royal baby was of course mixed race and waves of panic and revulsion washed over me. Fuck, what had I done? I needed no lessons on the centuries slurs equating simians and people of colour. Racism at it’s basest.
“I am aware black people do not need a white man to tell them this. Deleting it immediately and apologising for the awful gaffe I even foolishly tried to make light of it. (My situation that is, not the racism involved.) Too late and here I am.
“I would like once and for all to apologise to every single person who, quite naturally, took the awful connection at face value. I understand that and all of the clamour and opprobrium I have faced since. I am not feeling sorry for myself. I fucked up. Badly.
“But it was a genuine, naive and catastrophic mistake. There is, of course, little media/twitter traction in such a straight-forward explanation. The picture in context as presented was obviously shamefully racist. It was never intended so – seriously who on earth would ‘go there’?
“Anyway I am now paying the price for this crass & regrettable blunder and rightly so. Probably even this final word from me will extend the mania. (‘Dog whistle’ anyone?) I would like to thank friends on here for their kinder words and once again – I am so, so sorry.”
In attempting to lampoon privilege & the news cycle I went to a file of goofy pictures & saw the chimp dressed as a Lord and thought, “That’s the one!” Had I kept searching I might have chosen General Tom Thumb or even a a baby in a crown. But I didn’t. God knows I wish had.— Danny Baker (@prodnose) May 10, 2019
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