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For those having difficulty understanding how this tweet was racist - elegant commentary:
For those who are perplexed as to why the tweet by Danny is so offensive, it is important to address the fact that Meghan’s mother is a black woman.
It is Archie’s proximity to blackness that inspired Danny’s tweet of a monkey, whether he chooses to acknowledge this or not.
For centuries black people have been likened to monkeys. This is why I say racism is unimaginative at times, the same tropes are used against black people time and time again.
Then again the dehumanising imagery must be reinforced consistently for it to have any power. Archie has been likened to a monkey because of the black ancestry he possesses. Michelle Obama was referred to as an ‘ape in heels’ while she was still first lady. For the royal baby and the former first lady to have been likened to primates just goes to show that racism doesn’t disappear depending on the class you find yourself in within society.
Danny Baker’s tweet supports archaic race biology whether he knows enough history to be aware of this or not. It is a stance that claims black people are biologically inferior to white people and was very popular in the 1600s. It also became the basis of many theories that other ‘intellectuals’ published, like Karl Vogt who believed black people were related to apes and thus not fully human.
These nonsensical ‘scientific findings’ only served to temporarily legitimise atrocities like the transatlantic slave trade, colonisation and segregation/apartheid.
When you see something offensive happening, you step up and take action. Don’t stare at your newspaper in the hope it all goes away. That’s giving permission.
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I miss the days when I wasn’t painfully aware that Graham Linehan was a transphobic arsehole.
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Hell yeah. Let’s not hear from him again.
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Baker says the posting was an “enormous mistake.” It has since been deleted.
Typical racist BS after the fact back peddling, it’s a shitty excuse, and frankly don’t cut the mustard.
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Posting it was a mistake? No, thinking it in the first place was the mistake, it just wasn’t apparent to others yet. Now it is. Racist asshole status confirmed.
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I remember when I visited England in like 2004 there were posters about not saying racist stuff at Football/soccer games. 
I was surprised by that and the very draconian “pay your TV tax, or else” posters.
So, why are you bringing up this tangent? Negro isn’t a slur in the US, per se, but more of a archaic term along with “colored” that no one uses much any more but were once the more polite terms. They still live on through things like the UNCF (United Negro College Fund) and NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). And obviously Negro means black in Spanish, so it means something else entirely in other contexts.
Neither have anything to do with racist photos or Rob’s example of racists using the word “niggardly” and thinking they are sly about it.
ETA - Also, no one has a problem with a foriegn wine named “Negro”. Now, put a bunch of monkies on the lable, and then suddenly we have a problem.
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“Two decades on, it’s disarming to be reminded of UK celebrities who were wildly successful there but never made it in America.” This comment is bull. Other countries exist and not everyone is trying to “make it in America”. Why would BBC radio presenter Danny Baker be trying to make it America. Cop on.
And I know I’ll be accused of complaining about free ice cream but BoingBoing is the greatest example of a decent into mediocrity that I can think of.
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He is a DJ,
He is what he plays
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Yeah, it’s all playground Archie Bunker level “higher philosophy”.
“Why did you get mad when I called you a dog? Dogs are nice and people love them.”
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I have to admit, I had no idea MM’s mum was African-American, but that’s because I couldn’t give a toss what the royals are up to. Baker doesn’t really have that excuse as a daily radio presenter.
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I’m sorry your favourite oh-so-original “hey, remember the '70s?” DJ will no longer be able to help you wallow in nostalgia via the BBC, but however you look at it this was a major screw-up in terms of the industry’s professional standards.
If you want to look back with him at the “good old days” when a casually racist “joke” like that was just “harmless fun” I’m sure that he’ll be rolling out a podcast about it for you. The rest of the world is moving on and leaving him behind.
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My first thought was that it was about a British royal family resemblance.
I’m so sick 
of all the silly twits prattling on about this royal non-event (Canadian state media) that I have trouble caring.
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Not a fresh take there, johnny. Well past its sell-by date, really.
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He doesn’t play anything any more.
Shame.
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I think of the “place” there as that “UK light entertainment monoculture” more than British culture in general. What you might call “Noel Edmondsspace” moreso than “Savilespace,” while recognizing that between them is a general spectrum of unpleasantness.
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Where’s James Corden? He’s MIA.
I didn’t say he tried, just that he didn’t, which is relevant to my perspective as an expat.
The main UK > US success formula seems to be:
a lucky hit/break + a willingess to tour/schmooze/write relentlessly there.
It’s no judgment on people’s talent if they don’t get the former or don’t want to commit to the latter when they do. I’ve been reading a lot about UK synthpop bands lately and they were generally very smart about not putting everything they had into US tours after single hits, recognizing that it would burn them out fast the way “british invasions” of US culture usually do.
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