Image: BBC
Broadcaster Danny Baker has been fired by the BBC over his "stupid unthinking gag" on Twitter about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's new baby.
The now-deleted tweet, which has been circulated on social media, showed an image of a couple holding hands with a chimpanzee dressed in clothes with the caption: "Royal Baby leaves hospital".
The 5Live presenter was accused of mocking the duchess's racial heritage.
Baker said: "Just got fired from @bbc5live."
The call to fire me from @bbc5live was a masterclass of pompous faux-gravity. 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. #Fuckem
— Danny Baker (@prodnose) May 9, 2019
A BBC spokesperson said: "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."
Harry and Meghan, whose mother Doria Ragland is African American, revealed on Wednesday their new son was named Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.
After an initial backlash on social media, Baker said: "Sorry my gag pic of the little fella in the posh outfit has whipped some up. Never occurred to me because, well, mind not diseased.
"Soon as those good enough to point out it's possible connotations got in touch, down it came. And that's it."
The 61-year-old presented a weekend show on 5Live.