The BBC on Thursday fired radio presenter Danny Baker for a tweet about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's baby.

The post, which has now been deleted, showed an image of a couple holding hands with a chimpanzee, which is dressed in clothes, alongside the caption: "Royal baby leaves hospital".

 

Screenshot/Twitter

It drew criticism for making fun of the Dutchess' heritage — her mother Doria Ragland is African American.

Executives were cited on the BBC News' website as saying he showed a "serious error of judgement".

Danny Baker@prodnose

Just got fired from @bbc5live.
For the record - it was red sauce. Always.

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2:30 AM - May 9, 2019

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Baker labelled the tweet an "enormous mistake, for sure," adding: "Anyway, here's to ya Archie, Sorry mate."

"Would have used same stupid pic for any other Royal birth or Boris Johnson kid or even one of my own. It's a funny image. (Though not of course in that context.)" he wrote.

View image on Twitter

Danny Baker@prodnose

Once again. Sincere apologies for the stupid unthinking gag pic earlier. 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.
Also, guessing it was my turn in the barrel.

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2:02 PM - May 8, 2019

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The 61-year-old later labelled the decision to fire him a "masterclass of pompous faux-gravity" and said it was his "turn in the barrel".

Baker presented a weekend show on BBC Radio 5 Live for which he won a Sony Gold award for Speech Radio Personality of the Year three times and a Gold Award for entertainment show of the year.

Meghan, wife of Prince Harry, gave birth in the early hours of Monday morning to a baby boy, Archie, the first mixed-race child to be born into a senior position in British royalty in recent history.