Bye Bye Danny

[pumpkin]

So danny Baker has been sacked. When you press that tweet button and work in the public domain, maybe just check that what you think is funny will be seen as funny by those outside the box!

[essexian]

And then to say you didn't realise how the photo could be  seen as being racist.

I normally have a lot of time for Danny but this time no. I he was rightly sacked

[rafletcher]

To me, it wasn't funny, but all it seemed to be doing was comparing a royal with a performing monkey.

[De Sisti]

,,, but all it seemed to be doing was comparing a royal with a performing monkey.

If you can't see any racist implications in that tweet then you must surely be the racist as backward as you're making yourself out to be.

[toontra]

I very much doubt there was any intended racism in his tweet.  However Saturday morning radio will be far more bearable without his with his gushing, self-satisfied twaddle. 

[Jurek]

Really?
He's into footie, isn't he?
I'm not a match goer - so tell me what happens in the crowd when a black player comes onto the pitch.
How could he have not know that what he tweeted would be seen as racist?

[toontra]

I suspect the photo was an intended comic snub at the Royals in general and he didn't even consider the racial aspect, which I can understand.  Not being a royal or celeb follower, I'm only barely conscious that Markle has Afro-Carribean heritage.

However, anyone who indiscriminately gushes such a stream of consciousness is going to fall foul of his own tripe sooner or later.

[De Sisti]

I suspect the photo was an intended comic snub at the Royals in general and he didn't even consider the racial aspect,

A comic snub? Why an ape? Why not, for example, a baby elephant, giraffe, kitten, puppy?
He surely knew what he was doing. If your ethnicity has been slighted by being referred to
as an ape, then uploading the photograph by Baker can only be interpreted in one way.

[Ham]

Apparently Baker frequently uses monkey/people images, as in https://www.lbc.co.uk/radio/presenters/james-obrien/danny-bakers-first-interview-since-being-sacked-by/

I'm very much with Toontra, I don't think of (a) royals much at all or (b)  Mrs Windsor as being black.

[caerau]

He has form for being sacked by Radio 5 does he not?  I'm sure he'll crawl back eventually  - can't stand him anyway - was very pleased when they got rid of him on the footie phone in on R5 back in the 90s.

[mattc]

We love you Danny! 

Apparently Baker frequently uses monkey/people images, as in https://www.lbc.co.uk/radio/presenters/james-obrien/danny-bakers-first-interview-since-being-sacked-by/

I'm very much with Toontra, I don't think of (a) royals much at all or (b)  Mrs Windsor as being black.

Exactly. After I heard the news on the radio, I couldn't understand the problem - I'd totally forgotten that Mrs Windsor's race had ever been an issue. I had to google for a full news report before the penny dropped.

[I work with a 65yo right sexist racist twat - he refers to her as "The Gold-digger"! ]

Two things have made me laugh this evening (in different ways):

- "It's PG gawn mad" jokes.       And
- People claiming that Danny has hidden his racism well before now. He's 61 for chrissake! How can you work that long in broadcasting and "HIDE" your wicked racism all that time??

[caerau]

I don't think he's a racist, I just think he's an appalling gobshite twat.


Whether he deserves the sack or not, dunno really, what he did is perhaps crass but these days there are people on social media falling over themselves and each other determined to be offended at every turn.

[mattc]

I suspect the photo was an intended comic snub at the Royals in general and he didn't even consider the racial aspect,

A comic snub? Why an ape? Why not, for example, a baby elephant, giraffe, kitten, puppy?

Because apes almost always look a lot like baby humans. Especially when wearing human clothes.

Read about the history of that picture - it was never considered racist, and apes-as-children is a loooooong comic tradition that has no racist subtext.

I'm genuinely sorry that you're upset by this, but that doesn't give you magic telepathy about what this guy was thinking. How familiar are you with his work?

[Croft]

Read about the history of that picture - it was never considered racist, and apes-as-children is a loooooong comic tradition that has no racist subtext.

Bananas aren't racist. But throwing them onto the football pitch is. Context is important. How is can you be so completely certain that the photo cannot be used in a racist context?

[Hot Flatus]

Markle's ethnicity (black mum) has been a major talking point.  There can be literally nobody who has not been exposed to some coverage, and therefore it takes a particular form of ignorance to not be aware of how the photograph may be interpreted by some. That is not to say that the intent was racist, but he was certainly foolish.

[ian]

I assumed it was a 'performing monkey' joke, i.e. that's what the Royals effectively are.

That said, I've no idea who Danny Baker is, and I'd have a hard time naming more than half-a-dozen Royals. I only know about Markle because I read a piece about her being troll-bait for people who genuinely must be quite broken inside.

Given Twitter is mainly a platform for intellectually diminished people waiting to be vicariously offended, he doesn't seem to have been very bright in not thinking it through. But then it is the platform for the intellectually diminished, so I guess it's to be expected.

[mattc]

Read about the history of that picture - it was never considered racist, and apes-as-children is a loooooong comic tradition that has no racist subtext.

Bananas aren't racist. But throwing them onto the football pitch is. Context is important. How is can you be so completely certain that the photo cannot be used in a racist context?

Oh, I completely agree about context. And I am not certain of what you say I am - it is obviously POSSIBLE to use any image in a racist context.

But I know Baker's work over many years, and think I know his views very well. Unless you show me evidence of racist intent, it seems like a nicer world if we simply accept his apology and the retraction. What does it achieve to assume the worst? (Apart from some moral high-ground points of course ... )

Like I said, the guy is a 61-year old entertainer - I think his racist bone would have been obvious before now.

[caerau]

Like I said, the guy is a 61-year old entertainer - I think his racist bone would have been obvious before now.

It's the way he stands. You never see him in full body profile

[mattc]

Like I said, the guy is a 61-year old entertainer - I think his racist bone would have been obvious before now.

It's the way he stands. You never see him in full body profile

<I knew someone would pick-up on that ... >


He's also put on a few pounds since the early days!

[caerau]

 

[pumpkin]

Only my opinion but this was a 'Clarkson' moment. Get yourself sacked because there is a higher paying job coming down the road. He withdrew the tweet and apologised so that clears the way for his agent to negotiate a new contract. Baker knows what goes on at football matches in the same way that Walliams knew what went on at the corporate events he worked. Anybody else know of a career (apart from football) where you can get sacked numerous times by the same employer? In a few weeks time you'll read that Danny is going to be working on LBC or some other station but will also be a host/guest on a BBC TV panel show where there will be contrition and humour.

[citoyen]

Bananas aren't racist. But throwing them onto the football pitch is. Context is important. How is can you be so completely certain that the photo cannot be used in a racist context?

I agree with this entirely.

I've been following Danny Baker's broadcasting career (though not avidly) for some years and I believe him when he says that he didn't have any racist intent in the use of the image - whether you like his style or not, he seems like a pretty decent person on the whole. However, given that he is such an experienced broadcaster, it's remarkably stupid of him to not have the sensitivity to be aware of the racial connotations.

Should it be a sacking offence though? I don't know. I imagine if his ratings had been such that he was undroppable, he might have got off a bit lighter.

[citoyen]

That said, I've no idea who Danny Baker is...

Wowbagger, you've given yourself away - it turns out that "ian" has been your sockpuppet all along...

[ian]

I don't listen to the radio much and I've no interest in the soccerball, so I probably do know more about the Royal Family than Danny Baker. Like Wow, I also have a beard, but – of course – mine is exceptionally tidy*. The mothership may have taken away my Thought Leadership, but I'm damned if they'll take the Tidy Hair.

I'm not entirely comfortable with a world where it's not the intent but the perception that rules. Particularly where that offence is vicarious, and often worn more as a symbol of someone's beliefs than actual offense. Mining social media for potential offence causing material seems to be a growth business (were I kidding, it's actually a service you can buy).

*A 1 cm trim every Sunday, and a shave around the edges every Monday and Thursday, tidy hair fans.

[madamemugwump]

I too am of the school of thought that suggests he must have been aware of how the photo might be interpreted (whether he meant that interpretation or not)

Baker is a lot of things but stupid isn't one of them. He's also culturally and socially aware. That he might not have intended a racist comment, I can accept. What I cannot accept however is that he wasn't alive to the possibility of one being inferred. He's more streetwise than that.

I don't think he's racist, I do think it was an attempt at humour in another direction... but boy did he get it wrong. He gave his employers no option.