Cycling UK Forum

His sacking over the picture didn't surprise me as much as the reason. Calling a child a monkey is a fairly common joke, but less common for a newborn and probably asking for trouble if it's a royal baby.
Assuming that a monkey picture must be a racial slur, on the other hand - that didn't even occur to me until I read the article. Looks like I'm out of touch (again), now I'm wondering how monkey wrenches and Gorilla Glue are allowed to be advertised.

Common nicknames for our 6 year old son are chunky monkey and cheeky monkey. He's white BTW.

Isn't there a Ben and Jerry's ice-cream called chunky monkey?

It's the BBC caving in for fear of a twitter storm against them. Professionally offended out in force is something that's hard to stand up to if you're a weak executive at the BBC.

Hi all, Talking of monkeys, wouldn't be safe in Hartlepool! TTFN MM

I understand Baker is a football fan. Surely he is familiar with black players having to endure monkey noises and banana throwing. Was there not some trouble in a recent England international match with this sort of racist abuse?

Tangled Metal wrote:Common nicknames for our 6 year old son are chunky monkey and cheeky monkey. He's white BTW.

Isn't there a Ben and Jerry's ice-cream called chunky monkey?

It's the BBC caving in for fear of a twitter storm against them. Professionally offended out in force is something that's hard to stand up to if you're a weak executive at the BBC.

Perhaps you are unfamiliar with the football terrace racism of thrown babanas, ooh-ooh-ooh noises and various other monkey/ape-related yelps or gestures made against players who are not pink of skin? Danny Baker is certainly familiar with them.

Cugel

Pastychomper wrote:His sacking over the picture didn't surprise me as much as the reason. Calling a child a monkey is a fairly common joke, but less common for a newborn and probably asking for trouble if it's a royal baby.
Assuming that a monkey picture must be a racial slur, on the other hand - that didn't even occur to me until I read the article. [...]

Oh well, at least this incident has educated you that calling a quarter-African-American (IIRC) child a monkey might be considered racist!

I think he was sacked for continuing to defend it as a joke as much as publishing it in the first place. Should have apologised unreservedly and left it alone.

I'm afraid that I consider Danny Baker to be of the same ilk as Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross.
Neither funny or entertaining.

I predict he'll turn up on Talksport before long.

I don't think he meant to be racist. I think he was making a joke about young royals being on display like circus monkeys for us to all coo and smile at.

On the other hand, its I credibly obtuse not to see that in this day and age that it is liable to be perceived as racist, which is a grave error of judgement for someone who's job is to speak to the public en mass. I'm not surprised they binned him.

But the incident also sums up why I'm not o Faceapp or Twitbook.

Lance Dopestrong wrote:On the other hand, its I credibly obtuse not to see that in this day and age that it is liable to be perceived as racist, which is a grave error of judgement for someone who's job is to speak to the public en mass. I'm not surprised they binned him.

His first tweet or statement said that it never occurred to him because he doesn't have a diseased mind. And that's true of nearly all of us, I wouldn't have seen that connatation if I'd seen the picture. I'm not surprised they binned him but people who see it that way are looking for the slightest hint of offence.

Ben@Forest wrote:
His first tweet or statement said that it never occurred to him because he doesn't have a diseased mind. And that's true of nearly all of us, I wouldn't have seen that connatation if I'd seen the picture. I'm not surprised they binned him but people who see it that way are looking for the slightest hint of offence.

I don't agree with that at all. Over the years it's been common for racists and those who think black people inferior to compare them with apes and monkeys along with phrases used like "just down from the trees". The idea that black people weren't as evolved as whites was a lot of the justification behind things like slavery and apartheid. Football supporters make monkey noises at other teams black players. Baker was a keen follower of football so would have been well aware of this. He doesn't help his case by inferring that anyone who points out racism is mentally ill.

I probably would have also seen it's intended meaning first of all, but then it's not me who complained.

However, just because someone sees racism instead doesn't mean they have a diseased mind. Making nasty remarks about people who merely hold a different viewpoint is simply needlessly nasty (and now all too common among those who "debate" both sides of brexit) and I think Baker lost a serious bit of moral ground when he trotted that out - being nasty to those who are complaining only ever serves to undermine oneself.

He's a high profile broadcaster and it's simply not credible to believe he did not understand the potential connotations held in many quarters between racism and monkeys, and that's the nub of it. Instead of apologising unreservedly he decided to dig himself in deeper by making derogatory remarks about people who hold a different view. So he did it to himself, and when he might have retreated and got away with only minor damage to his reputation, he went and did it to himself again.

Lance Dopestrong wrote:I don't think he meant to be racist. I think he was making a joke about young royals being on display like circus monkeys for us to all coo and smile at.

On the other hand, its I credibly obtuse not to see that in this day and age that it is liable to be perceived as racist, which is a grave error of judgement for someone who's job is to speak to the public en mass. I'm not surprised they binned him.

But the incident also sums up why I'm not o Faceapp or Twitbook.

I can't believe he didn't think of it as racist. I reckon he thought he could flannel his way out of it.

To be honest I'd never heard of the bloke before he got the boot, but now that I have I'm glad he got canned.

pete75 wrote:He doesn't help his case by inferring that anyone who points out racism is mentally ill.

Er .. no. It's YOU that has inferred this. You should probably get a dictionary before joining in the next indignation flash-mob my friend!

Tangled Metal wrote:Common nicknames for our 6 year old son are chunky monkey and cheeky monkey. He's white BTW.

Isn't there a Ben and Jerry's ice-cream called chunky monkey?

It's the BBC caving in for fear of a twitter storm against them. Professionally offended out in force is something that's hard to stand up to if you're a weak executive at the BBC.

Well put.