Danny Baker sacked

mmj_uk said:
What's a bit of a mind **** is it if you really think about it, if he *genuinely* didn't think it was racist and just thought that the Royal family wheeling out a chimp instead of a baby was funny, then it's the rest of the people who are offended by it who are the ones who are truly racist because they are the ones who are actually associating a chimp with black people by choosing to be offended by it in that way.
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No. What nonsense is this? Being aware of the fact that black people have been called monkeys/chimps in a derogatory manner for years, does not make you racist.

Many in this thread seem confused.

Only Danny Baker knows whether what he posted was intentionally racist or not.

However, we should all know that what he posted was very racially insensitive.
 
I saw it initially and thought he was comparing the new royal baby to a performing animal that has no say in the matter, which I can see the point being made and thought nothing more of it tbh.

Only later when I heard on the radio that he’d been sacked and why did I actually see that - the racist connotation - point, I’m a middle aged white guy so I suppose it blind sided me initially,rightly or wrongly.

I understand the uproar to a degree, but what I don’t understand more is in his position at the massively P.C. BBC surely he’d have been much more aware than most of the potential for offence, that he didn’t see it astounds me.

Given he had a section in his show along the lines of “Monkeys dressed as famous people” iirc maybe he was alluding to that?

A greater agenda? I’d like to think not but I do now wonder...

Either way, I don’t think sacking him was justified, used to very much enjoy his Saturday morning 5 Live show it was light hearted banter and a generally good listen. :/
 
He probably wasn't being intentionally racist seeing as you would have to be the biggest moron on the planet to publicly post that picture with the intention of making racist connotations to the kid, as that would quite obviously get you sacked. If he was racist he'd probably send that picture to his mates in a private whatsapp group or something. It's quite obvious he's incredibly naive and stupid though.
 
Roar87 said:
He probably wasn't being intentionally racist seeing as you would have to be the biggest moron on the planet to publicly post that picture with the intention of making racist connotations to the kid, as that would quite obviously get you sacked. If he was racist he'd probably send that picture to his mates in a private whatsapp group or something. It's quite obvious he's incredibly naive and stupid though.
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This.
 
what am I missing that prince guy and his chick are black?.. or the kid... that's the only way I would imagine it being seen as racist.. but I thought they were white...
 
edscdk said:
what am I missing that prince guy and his chick are black?.. or the kid... that's the only way I would imagine it being seen as racist.. but I thought they were white...
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She's mixed race, her mother is black.

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ttaskmaster said:
Thinking it still doesn't make it so, though, else we'd all be racist over even the slightest little imagining of offense, with a hefty dose of mental gymnastics, that seems to crop up these days...
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I agree that thinking something is racist doesn't make it racist but it's not hard to see how people make the link. That requires literally no mental gymnastics and if anything just a mental stroll across a road.
Try and see it from someone elses point of view as well as your own.

When you were growing up, I am going to presume for sake of argument that you're not black, did you frequently have people making monkey noises at you or suggesting you're the missing link between Ape and Man? If you haven't experienced that then I can completely see why your mind doesn't go there initially. That doesn't make you wrong or ignorant, it just shows you didn't have those experiences growing up so your mind doesn't go there.
Now, if like me you did grow up and that did happen to you several times, can't you see how someone like myself could view it as racist or at least racially insensitive?

This, to my knowledge, didn't happen with either of William and Kate's children. So when it has happened to Harry and Megan's first child who also happens to be the first mixed race royal baby it's not that difficult, for people who have experienced certain things, to make the connection.

Maybe he did mean it purely in the way he intended and people took it the wrong way. It wont be the first and last time this has happened.

I don't know how much you follow boxing, or a few other sports, but Matchroom founder Barry Hearn came under some heat recently because he said in his years Promoters acted like Slave Owners with the way they treated boxers. Anyone with 2 brain cells will know exactly what he meant but because he had 2 black guys either side of him people twisted it to mean something much worse.

People are very quick to twist narratives today, especially without context, so anyone in a position where thousand will see what they say need to be careful. I don't think he deserved to get fired unless he had a track history of such actions but I do think he was a bit silly to not see the racial connotations, especially someone of his age who probably lived through more of it than the ones getting offended.
 
JunglistE said:
That whole cheeky monkey thing was ridiculous. H&M probably should've realised the sort of climate we are in with people getting annoyed about anything but I didn't see it as a big deal. Hell, my first ever Hotmail account when I was a kid was CheekyMonkey!

I don't think it's fair to say black people finding offence or others getting offended on their behalf is holding people back though. If something can be viewed as offensive I think it's only fair people get to speak up about it. Always speaking about racism does keep it current and means it's even less likely to go away but that doesn't mean we shouldn't pay attention to the effects it can have on people other than yourself.

I'm not the most empathetic person but I do like to at least try and see how others may view something which I feel is OK.
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Being offended and speaking out is fine, its the response that matters. H&M then dropped the add and apologised when there was no intention to offend. That is surely preventing people moving forward. It ensures the phrase cheeky monkey can never have an innocent meaning in terms of a black child, which is ridiculous.
 
He’s demonstrated a breathtaking lack of situational awareness.

The BBC is incapable of taking any other action, but it will now endlessly debate the action that it has taken on all its daytime shows.
 
Roar87 said:
He probably wasn't being intentionally racist seeing as you would have to be the biggest moron on the planet to publicly post that picture with the intention of making racist connotations to the kid, as that would quite obviously get you sacked. If he was racist he'd probably send that picture to his mates in a private whatsapp group or something. It's quite obvious he's incredibly naive and stupid though.
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Got to agree.
 
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I think anyone with an ounce of intelligence will see this as severe lack of judgement/not intentionally racist as Roar87 says.

So incredibly stupid on Baker's part.
 
so let me get this right; Danny referring to a chimp is racist and rightly-sackable, David Icke referring to them as lizards is not actionable or abhorrent etc?
 
wolfie138 said:
so let me get this right; Danny referring to a chimp is racist and rightly-sackable, David Icke referring to them as lizards is not actionable or abhorrent etc?
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I don't think either should be a sacking offence but one word has history of racial connotations and the other doesn't. Not quite the same
 
so it's only racist if you refer to certain animals then. what if it was a black lizard, would that make a difference?
also, I don't think footballers have been outed by icke as lizards, otherwise the projectiles might change.
 
Personally I wouldn't have thought about the racial connotations either.
I empathise with the guy of it literally didn't cross his mind.

Is another step in the slope of not being able to say anything because someone might be offended because of some tenuous link.
 
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