Danny Baker sacked

[Minusorange]

People only see the racism because they themselves think "black person/ Monkey" says more about the people claiming its racist.

Pretty much this

 

[robfosters]

Apes don’t have tails

 

[Edrof]

People only see the racism because they themselves think "black person/ Monkey" says more about the people claiming its racist.
I looked at the tweet in work and didn't get what the fuss was about till someone else pointed it out.
It people want things to move on, how about justs seeing it for what it is. A monkey in a funny photo.

I agree. Some people actively look to be offended by things like this. I never even thought of the racial context until this thread pointed it out! If DB has expressed racist views in the past then fair enough; if he hasn't then the image is clearly not purposefully racist.

 

[esmozz]

People like Danny Baker know full well how the media works.

He would have known exactly what sort of response this tweet would get.

Which begs the question, why did he do it?

 

[d_brennen]

There must be something about Twitter/Facebook that disengages common sense.
There should be a warning before hitting post: "these thousands of people that follow you aren't your mates, you aren't having banter down the pub, think about what you are about to say"

 

[Marky]

People like Danny Baker know full well how the media works.

He would have known exactly what sort of response this tweet would get.

Which begs the question, why did he do it?

The way he was sacked so promptly does make me wonder if they were just looking for an excuse to sack him regardless

 

[robj20]

Not a great excuse IMO

Taking your thinking to the extreme:

So if a bunch of white supremacists sig heil, and the only witnesses are some children who don't know the connotations of that salute, there wasn't any racism?

You have that the wrong way round to my thinking really.
If a child who had no idea what they were saying did it would it be racist?
If you mean something to be racist then obviously it is, im obviously taking this guy at his word in that he didn't mean it to be.

 

[Cleisthenes]

Incredibly stupid of him, but feel as if he should be taken at his word and should have been made to apologise and given an official warning. No need to sack the man.

This is where I stand on it too. He has said that he never even thought about the race connotation and was posting it as it was somewhat of a circus surrounding the new baby. He no doubt would have posted the same thing if the baby wasn't mixed race.

Very stupid but such a shame that he's been sacked over it.

 

[Syla5]

The fact he regularly talked about Chimps dressed as famous people means nothing right??

 

[VincentHanna]

People only see the racism because they themselves think "black person/ Monkey" says more about the people claiming its racist.
I looked at the tweet in work and didn't get what the fuss was about till someone else pointed it out.
It people want things to move on, how about justs seeing it for what it is. A monkey in a funny photo.

He intimated that people who see racist connotations have a "diseased mind"

Claiming ignorance doesn't really cut it, otherwise you can just always use it as an excuse.

"Oh I didn't realise the N word was bad, I hear it in movies and songs all the time..."

"Oh I didn't realise fag was bad, I thought it was a cigarette..."

 

[MookJong]

Remember the black Labour MP who went mad with one of the department stores because there was a range of kids clothing with slogans on. One hoodie had "Cheeky Monkey" on it and it was modeled by a black child. Surely in a world free of racism that child would be fine to wear that top. Black people finding offence or white people finding it on their behalf is holding us back.

As above, I saw Bakers tweet being commented on online and at first I didn't actually realise the uproar was about race just that it was taking the mick.

 

[physichull]

People only see the racism because they themselves think "black person/ Monkey" says more about the people claiming its racist.
I looked at the tweet in work and didn't get what the fuss was about till someone else pointed it out.
It people want things to move on, how about justs seeing it for what it is. A monkey in a funny photo.

Bang on.

I never once looked at that photo and correlated "chimp" to a black person, its just a funny photo. In the cold light of day, I can see why it was not the most appropriate image. Danny recognised that quickly and took it down. I don't know Danny Baker personally but I feel that I can categorically say that Danny in no way intended that to be racist, nor is a racist. It was just a minor error in judgement.

* turns to BBC iPlayer to see Farage is on Question Time again.... *

 

[Hilly]

He's a fool, but I see no deliberate action here; He's from another generation which isn't used to the snow flakes and faux outrage that the most recent generation insist on throwing about.

It's a stupid tweet, which could be perceived to be racist. Do I think he made that joke intending to be racist? Absolutely not. Should he have known better? Absolutely.

 

[Pudney]

Yeah but what's the difference?

The main differences are tails and the development of the brain.

 

[cu3ed]

Or perhaps black people who were called monkeys, or worse, feel offended because they have gone through that themselves?

As someone else said, his timing was off. Had he did this between Kate and William there would be no one batting an eyelid. A mixed race lady enters the fray and this pops up. Not hard to see why people think it's poor taste

Im sure when he posted it he was thinking " ha, that'll show all the monkeys".

 

[mmj_uk]

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.

 

[robfosters]

He intimated that people who see racist connotations have a "diseased mind"

Claiming ignorance doesn't really cut it, otherwise you can just always use it as an excuse.

"Oh I didn't realise the N word was bad, I hear it in movies and songs all the time..."

"Oh I didn't realise fag was bad, I thought it was a cigarette..."

OK, but do you think he should have been officially warned or was it right for him to lose his livelihood over it?

 

[ttaskmaster]

NVM

 

[glenimp617]

I thought he meant the royal baby was ugly rather than black....geez, still on about the skin colour eh.

 

[Junglist]

Remember the black Labour MP who went mad with one of the department stores because there was a range of kids clothing with slogans on. One hoodie had "Cheeky Monkey" on it and it was modeled by a black child. Surely in a world free of racism that child would be fine to wear that top. Black people finding offence or white people finding it on their behalf is holding us back.

As above, I saw Bakers tweet being commented on online and at first I didn't actually realise the uproar was about race just that it was taking the mick.

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.