Topic: Danny Baker. #CANCELLED.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I've been a Danny Baker fan for, oh, 20 years or so, and I've never paid any attention to anything he's ever said about football (a sport, like all sport, I have no interest in).

Hasn't most of his output been devoted to pop culture, trivia, whimsy, the inventive subversion of tired broadcasting tropes and PG Wodehouse references?

Racism is an unexpected olive on the platter, I'll grant him that.

[DrGreggles]

I have no time for him whatsoever but i genuinely believe that at the time he posted that he wasn't thinking about the kid's ethnicity.

Like I said earlier, it says more about the people who did make that connection.

[Misspent Boners]

Bloody hell had me going for a minute there...for a minute I thought he'd; you know...


He'd FIDDLED.

[easytarget]

It took me a minute "monkey? why is that bad? attacking the royals? nah, animal rights? hmm, attacking a baby? well maybe but not so much... oh HANG on".  Those dots were pretty far apart for me.

[lankyguy95]

^
Me too.

Another case of "how can anyone possibly not think exactly like me?" Even naivety is punishable now.

[Uncle TechTip]

Good I'm glad he's cancelled.

Remember when he told his listeners to go round and beat up a referee that didn't do or did do something about a footy wooty player in some sort of match?

I've never liked the guy.

Yeah but no one took it seriously and actually did it. Different times, I guess.

[BlodwynPig]

It took me a minute "monkey? why is that bad? attacking the royals? nah, animal rights? hmm, attacking a baby? well maybe but not so much... oh HANG on".  Those dots were pretty far apart for me.

I thought it was Prince Phillip

[St_Eddie]

I am quite literally outraged!  Not at this specifically, just generally.

[phantom_power]

This sort of thing is annoying because I firmly believe that people should be nice to each other wherever possible and not try and cause offence and apologise if they do and I think Political Correctness is a good thing and Zardos of Kalgon can go suck and fuck and all that but then this kind of thing comes along and it makes me want to say that people are deliberately getting offended for woke credentials and I end up sounding like Danger Man

[Paulie Walnuts]

Ah, just had it explained to me.

Probably says more about the complainants than Baker TBH.
I wouldn't have made that leap anyway.

Exactly, anyone who has followed Baker down the years knows he has a minor obsession with monkeys dressed as humans (or famous people, as the bit goes)

Can't stand the guy personally after he came out as a rich London remainer this year, but this is ridiculous

Could well cause him some problems though in this age of....

Good I'm glad he's cancelled.

I've never liked the guy.

....millennial outrage culture

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

....millennial outrage culture

You mean people not particularly liking him. That's not quite the same thing.

[biggytitbo]

Not liking someone, so then taking everything they do in the worse possible light, despite as here, how illogical and unlikely it would be that this was intended to be racist.

[madhair60]

This is it. This is the one that turns me alt-right. This is the end of Classic madhair.

[lebowskibukowski]

He could well be a racist, I've no idea, but I'm not too sure that this is proof of that. Posted without thought, yes, but it's a bit of a stretch. 

[biggytitbo]

He decided now was the night, 40 years into his career, to come out as a racist and become a pariah.

[Cuellar]

The millenials are at it again

[Buelligan]

This sort of thing is annoying because I firmly believe that people should be nice to each other wherever possible and not try and cause offence and apologise if they do and I think Political Correctness is a good thing and Zardos of Kalgon can go suck and fuck and all that but then this kind of thing comes along and it makes me want to say that people are deliberately getting offended for woke credentials and I end up sounding like Danger Man

That's not how it is though, is it?  There have always been and always will be people looking for offence, whether you call their beer a woman or wear that skirt out in public, don't even think about a hijab.  We all know this.

People who have the ear of the public, though, or at least big tranches, they need to think before they toss off a racist meme to a nameless mob.  They really do. 

It's not about rushing to offence, though some, as I said, may have done just that.  It's about using your fucking brain because, right now, we live in a world where there are fires springing up everywhere.  Real ordinary people are getting burnt.  We have people like Trump, Robinson, Farage and their followers (just in our little corner) working their hateful socks off to inflame division, mistrust and pain wherever they can.  There simply is no leeway left for thoughtless tits playing with gasoline.

So that's what it is, not offence but concern and a hope that some of these tittering erstwhile Oscars up their fucking game before we're all engulfed.

[Jumblegraws]

He decided now was the night, 40 years into his career, to come out as a racist and become a pariah.

I doubt a lot of people criticising him actually think he was deliberately making a racist joke. These things have both an intent and an impact component. It’s the latter than is driving most of the criticism, which is to say that even though Baker didn’t mean to make a racist joke about a baby, he really ought to be aware of this particular trope and that he might inadvertently be perpetuating it.

EDIT TO ADD: Just to be clear, I think Baker has handled this as well as anyone can and I don’t think he should be ‘cancelled’ over this.

[Jumblegraws]

Ah, just had it explained to me.

Probably says more about the complainants than Baker TBH.
I wouldn't have made that leap anyway.

This is a pretty weak counterpoint, we shouldn’t be shaming people for having a heightened awareness of the forms prejudice can take or discomfort with things that are redolent of those forms.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

I still remember fondly his comment " You've passed on " The Pope- you * and* Henry the Eighth ! " to Tommy Boyd  on " Win, Lose Or Draw", but he's done far too much to blot his copybook since then. His dad sounds like he was a proper wrong 'un, too.

[Cuellar]

A crossword setter on twitter pointed out that an anagram of Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor is 'Has institution reared brown monarch'

Is that #racist?

[Buelligan]

I think it's stupid.  What is the value, other than ones 15 minutes, of releasing that marvelous information?  Having consideration for others, thinking about their sensitivities and trying not to put pressure on them, not being an insensitive blundering idiot, surely that is the way to run a fucking ballroom?

[poodlefaker]

Hasn't most of his output been devoted to pop culture, trivia, whimsy, the inventive subversion of tired broadcasting tropes and PG Wodehouse references?

He seems to spend most evenings drinking and tweeting about the football match he's watching on TV. It was better in the old days and the commentators are not as intelligent as he is is usually the gist of it.

Occasionally he'll watch an awards ceremony and tell the people responsible that he could write better scripts and they should ask him next time.

[Cuellar]

I think it's stupid.  What is the value, other than ones 15 minutes, of releasing that marvelous information?  Having consideration for others, thinking about their sensitivities and trying not to put pressure on them, not being an insensitive blundering idiot, surely that is the way to run a fucking ballroom?

Anax is #cancelled

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

He seems to spend most evenings drinking and tweeting about the football match he's watching on TV. It was better in the old days and the commentators are not as intelligent as he is is usually the gist of it.

Occasionally he'll watch an awards ceremony and tell the people responsible that he could write better scripts and they should ask him next time.

I was talking about his actual work, I don't really pay attention to anything he says on Twitter. Difficult to ignore in this instance, admittedly.

[up_the_hampipe]

What happened to series 2 of Cradle to Grave? Is that still happening?

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

What happened to series 2 of Cradle to Grave? Is that still happening?

No. The kid who played him will be too old now anyway.

[phantom_power]

This is a pretty weak counterpoint, we shouldn’t be shaming people for having a heightened awareness of the forms prejudice can take or discomfort with things that are redolent of those forms.

That is true and people stating that are within their rights. The problem is that others jump and act all outraged on other people's behalf or wilfully misinterpret the situation to suggest intent. People continuing to go on about it after he has deleted the tweet and apologised for instance

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

He’s just been fired by the BBC. Bloody hell.

[sponk]

 He's apparently well known for his quick wit, but that deserted him here when he just comes across as a witless bully lashing out and trying to intimidate someone because he has nothing funny to say. Maybe he felt emasculated because his awkwardly flirty interview with that girl had been interrupted, the whole scene reminded me of boys in high school throwing a tantrum whenever they were told off after doing some stupid bollocks to impress a girl. I'm glad the bloke didn't back down. "I'll come back when I'm not on the telly" - what a cunt.