An honest mistake? Maybe he did not think before posting the tweet?However, thats not justification. Life is full of choices. You will reap what you sow. The tweet was very upsetting, and disturbing. You should never speak of a non-white or mixed-race child in the same breath as a chimp.
Radio DJ Danny Baker has been fired from BBC Radio 5 Live after for posting tweet about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex‘s baby son that featured an image of a monkey
The broadcaster said: ‘Sorry my gag pic of the little fella in the posh outfit has whipped some up’
Danny Baker has issued an apology, but unfortunately, that apology isn’t worth a grain of sand as the only person he seems to feel sorry for is himself?
The above picture was branded “racist” and people urged Mr Baker to quit from his show on the radio station with immediate effect. Danny Baker has since apologised for the tweet and said it was intended as a joke.
Danny Baker has since been fired from 5 Live on Thursday 09th of May 2019.
Twitter users were outraged by the post with one user tweeting:
“I used to think Danny Baker was funny as too, but if a monkey is the first thing you ‘think’ about regarding a mixed race baby, you’ve got issues clearly!.”
Another wrote: “Is there a petition going to get Danny Baker sacked? My pen is ready #racist.”
The BBC wrote:
“This was a serious error of judgment and goes against the values we as a station aim to embody.”
The BBC
That’s an understatement. It’s the second time Baker has been axed by 5 Live and is the third time he has left the BBC. Clearly the BBC has as problem.
Lack of Diversity in the BBC
The lack of diversity in the BBC is still in stark contrast to their vision for a “diverse and gender balanced senior leadership team” by 2020.
White, Oxbridge educated and middle-aged: THESE are the faces of the ‘diverse’ BBC in 2019. As you can see, no noticeable changes since 2016. Could this be the reason why people like Danny Baker were re-hired again and again? And if so what does this really say about the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)?
In 2019 the overwhelmingly middle-aged Oxbridge educated men each earning at least £250,000 a year still make up the majority of the BBC’s Executive Board.
I hope it will become a teachable moment. I now hope to see a stronger commitment to diversity and a series of unconscious bias training for all staff. #AlanSugar
Labour MP Brent Central | Opposition SOS for Women & Equalities | UK’s first elected female African-Caribbean Government Minister
History of the photograph
The photograph is a picture of famous 1920s chimpanzee Joe Mendi “the gentleman chimpanzee”.
The primate was the most popular animal entertainer of the time.
He was billed as having “the intelligence of a five-year-old child” and toted around Broadway, New York by circus-owner Lew Backenstoe.
Tricks included playing a miniature piano, posing for photographs and drinking Coca-Cola at the local soda counter.
The picture shows the primate dressed to the nines as he attended “Trial of the Century,” the Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925.
Thousands watched as Clarence Darrow defended high school science teacher John Scopes for teaching evolution in his classroom while William Jennings Bryan argued for the prosecution.
Time magazine described the proceedings as ”the fantastic cross between a circus and a holy war.”
A Biblical Preceptive on the Danny Baker Post
From the fruit of their lips people are filled with good things, and the work of their hands brings them reward.
When our words help and benefit our people, we honor God. People who experience kindness and encouragement will surely bear good fruit. Many leaders do not realize that what is in their hearts comes out of their mouths, In other words, “What is in a man comes out of the man.” If one’s heart is filled with evil, then he will speak evil.
If Jesus is in his heart, then Jesus is what will come out
This is why we should, as Christian and Business Leaders, be constantly filling ourselves to the brim with goodness, not despair and disaster or things that are not wholesome. How do we do this? Here are a few suggestions:
- Spend time reading God’s Word
- Have a relationship with God by fellowshipping with other believers
- Volunteer in a Ministry in which you can impact the world
- Devote time with your family sharing your life with Christ
- Connect in a Bible study or start one yourself
- Help grow the Church that you attend
- Encourage and minister to our youth
