.. to be disappointed that a racist received a standing ovation!

[NannaNoodleman]

Danny Baker: Standing ovation at first show since Twitter storm www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-48249637

What is wrong with people. He showed his true inherent racism but people still believe he's a top bloke!

But yes there is definitely pc hysteria these days.

What precisely is pc hysteria? Because the only people I know who start banging on about ‘being pc’ are those who are cross they get pulled up on racist or bigoted shit that they could have got away with in the past.

That’s why when people see or here things like this they’re actually not sure how to react.

Most people knew exactly how to react when they saw that picture. There’s no ifs or buts about what that picture represented. A picture he didn’t share when Will and Kate had a baby, or Zara, or any other members of the royal family. The only time in recent history (too recent) where a black or mixed raced person has been compared to a monkey/chimp has purely been in a racist context. There is no pleading ignorance here.

But yes there is definitely pc hysteria these days

There can be I agree, but this wasn’t one. People are correct in being horrified in his behaviour, putting up the tweet and his so called apology afterwards. There’s no way he didn’t know or think about how it would come across. I can’t get my head around who is defending him personally.

He can join Farage in his Brexit party. No doubt he would get lots of support

True *@SharnersWig but then again neither Laila Rouass nor the Senegalese football team are royalty....

I don't know if he is racist in the way the BNP etc are but the tweet definitely was. He is absolutely a fucking idiot who deserved to be sacked over it though.

I don't know how he's kept his racism under wraps for 40 years... I don't know how others have kept their paedophilia under wraps for 50 odd years either!

'Oh come on!!! It was actually quite funny'

Would it still be funny if it were someone making a jibe at your 2 day old baby?

Do people really think you have to gallop around with a white sheet on your head to be a racist!!

Just because he has never shouted "send the buggers back" doesn't mean he isn't racist.

His tweet was racist.

You are right OP. But if you look at some replies here it might be clear why some people think is behaviour was only naive, stupid, but not racist.

Covert racism (in his case not so subtle) is a major issue in our society, and almost anyone, and if you complain, will tell you that you are being too sensitive, cannot take a joke etc..

He's an old man who didn't live in a cave until yesterday, he worked in media and was perfectly aware of the horrible implications that picture had. The baby's parents must have felt horrible seeing it, I would have if it was a picture of my children. Disgusting doesn't it describe it.

For the the poster saying never anything, I wasn’t particularly impressed with his mock Indian accents. It was on an interview on being working class. I guess he would say it’s ‘ironic’.

This is a story of a failure of empathy:

1. Danny Baker posts a jokey picture, not spotting the racist interpretation. Accidentally offends a lot of people who have suffered racist slurs. He failed to grasp how others may see it..

2. People pile on him, claiming he 'must' have meant it and he 'must' be a racist. It is obvious to them (maybe it has had a particularly prominent impact on their lives?), so they assume it must be obvious to everyone. They fail to grasp that the first association someone else makes with an image may differ from theirs.

If you can truly empathise with and understand other people, this whole furore becomes very simple to understand, and no hatred and vitriol is required.

But an inherent racist would never kiss a black woman. Wouldn't even hug one.
Blatantly not true. I used to know a BNP supporting, kick em all out type. Whose mate was an African. But his mate was "one of the good ones" and "not like the others" You'll often find racists make exceptions. Because their logic is nuts. I also know a person who uses racist slurs, despite having mixed raced children. (including towards people of the race of her children's father)

Oh he knew the connotations. Don't give me that shit. Working in the media fo years, regularly hearing racist football chants all his life at Millwall. Having a basic (you'd hope) understanding of social history in this country. The apologists can fuck off.

Irony is out of everyone involved, he's the one that most resembles a chimp, especially in looks/body shape.

If anything I think he's probably NOT racist because he didn't make that connection.

Spot on. The real racists are all the people who understand the foul cultural implications of implying that black people are subhuman, not the man who is so secure in his white privilege that he somehow managed to be unaware of the fact that it’s racist to compare black people to monkeys, despite the fact that he has himself previously reported on this exact, specific form of racism being inflicted on black football players.

Outstanding pretzel logic - well done.

If you can truly empathise with and understand other people, this whole furore becomes very simple to understand, and no hatred and vitriol is required.
I empathise with the people he offended.

If you can truly empathise with and understand other people, this whole furore becomes very simple to understand, and no hatred and vitriol is required.

I agree with that in principle. Is this case, Danny went on to lie about knowing it was Meghan that was pregnant - and his Twitter showed he did, he'd tweeted about her days before. That lie makes it more difficult to believe that he was telling the truth when he said he had not seen the racist angle in the initial picture.

Oh come on!!! It was actually quite funny

No it fucking wasn’t. Unless you think comparing a mixed race baby to a chimp is funny then?

If you can truly empathise with and understand other people, this whole furore becomes very simple to understand, and no hatred and vitriol is required.
I agree with this.

If you can truly empathise with and understand other people, this whole furore becomes very simple to understand, and no hatred and vitriol is required

What about the many people he’s upset? My empathy and understanding is solely with them.

He’s a liar. Apparently as a famous BBC journalist he didn’t realise Meghan Markle was mixed race. I don’t believe him at all. He clearly did this deliberately and now all the racist fools in the UK (those who probably voted Brexit too) are on his side.

I am of mixed race heritage - I also think no-one would be that stupid to be that blatantly racist. I also think it was a stupid mistake and more about the royal family being a circus / zoo than a racial comment.

The first I knew Meghan was black was after this Danny Baker episode.

It's easy to ignore all that celeb crap, incl. the royals if you can't stand it

I saw her picture last week- she is the mother of the baby, in the white dress, yes? and honestly thought she looked pretty, maybe Italian or something, never crossed my mind she was black.

The thing that has bothered me since this all started is that he just can't get straight what the punchline was meant to be. I can believe you might make the joke (ill-advisedly) in a non-racist way. But Danny Baker seems incapable of explaining what the punchline was MEANT to be. Very telling imho. Also - regardless of the actual punchline why does he think it's acceptable to go after a newborn child? Unpleasant individual...

For the record, lots of people look like monkeys, regardless of race, most striking recent example being the scary addition to Line of Duty at the end of the series...

Whilst out and out ‘I hate x people’ is still generally not ok, the middle class faux-ignorance ‘I didn’t realise that wasn’t ok’ type of racism is certainly more acceptable. Just read any thread about MM on here and see what level people think is acceptable, the bar is fucking low.

Very well said!
As a poc, I can definitely relate to this.
Ime, if I were to ever call out someone’s faux ignorance racism then I’ll be accused of playing the race card / too pc