The Wednesday debut of the royal baby was met with excitement from most of the world, but a British radio personality took the opportunity to share an insensitive jab at the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their newborn son.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle introduced their son to the public two days after his birth. His name, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, was announced later in the day, after he'd met his great-grandmother and great-grandfather, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.
Related: Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor: Meghan and Harry announce new baby's name
BBC Radio 5 Live host Danny Baker responded to the news by tweeting a photo of a chimpanzee in a suit holding hands with a well-dressed woman. A well-dressed man was on the other side of the chimpanzee. Baker captioned the photo, "Royal baby leaves hospital."
After the post was met with criticism about its racist connotations, Baker deleted the tweet and apologized in another tweet.
"Once again. Sincere apologies for the stupid unthinking gag pic earlier," he wrote. "Was supposed to be joke about Royals vs circus animals in posh clothes but interpreted as about monkeys & race, so rightly deleted. Royal watching not my forte."
Hours later, Baker griped on Twitter about reporters from Sky News and The Daily Mail contacting him for interviews about his tweet.
"Here we go. Opened door, grinning Mail hack. 'Do you think black people look like monkeys?' Any other time you'd knock someone right on their (expletive) for saying that," he tweeted. "No mate. Gag pic. Posh baby chimp. Alerted to circs. Appalled. Deleted. Apologised. He asks again!"
"Now Sky at the door. Would have used same stupid pic for any other Royal birth or Boris Johnson kid or even one of my own," he wrote. "It's a funny image. (Though not of course in that context.) Enormous mistake, for sure. Grotesque. Anyway, here's to ya Archie, Sorry mate."
The apology wasn’t enough for Baker to keep his job. He was fired hours later.
"This was a serious error of judgment and goes against the values we as a station aim to embody. Danny's a brilliant broadcaster but will no longer be presenting a weekly show with us," BBC Radio 5 Live controller Jonathan Wall said in an email to staff, according to The Associated Press.
Once again, Baker took to Twitter after confirming he was fired.
"The call to fire me from @bbc5live was a masterclass of pompous faux-gravity," Baker tweeted an hour after saying he was fired. "Took a tone that said I actually meant that ridiculous tweet and the BBC must uphold blah blah blah. Literally threw me under the bus. Could hear the suits knees knocking."
