Danny Baker

Reverend

It's PC basic human decency gone mad...

blueskunk

shrinkwrap said:

When you've been a broadcaster for so many years and know about being a professional, a micro-seconds thought would have told him this was dumb. Any organisation would sack an employee like that. Engage brain before opening mouth. Nothing PC about it.

Scary that Wazmeister seems to think it's fine - Count Dankula fan?

Indeed 

blueskunk

I’m mixed race and can say will all honestly , if he said that in front of me, man would have got slap and possibly more depending on his reaction to me slapping his daft looking face. 

Wazmeister

shrinkwrap said:

When you've been a broadcaster for so many years and know about being a professional, a micro-seconds thought would have told him this was dumb. Any organisation would sack an employee like that. Engage brain before opening mouth. Nothing PC about it.

Scary that Wazmeister seems to think it's fine - Count Dankula fan?

I don't think it's fine, at all... but I do think the unrelenting judgement and the right to judge, is very worrying...

Now, let's assume Danny Baker has made a genuine mistake here; hadn't thought of the connections, and now he is paying the highest price for a statement, an opinion, a quick gag ?

Likewise, if he did  mean the racist gag, what should the penalties be for an opinion - even if I fundamentally disagree with that opinion ?

As I said, its not this particular situation that concerns me, its the overall pattern of where we are heading as a society...

jonnyburgo

He’s a smart guy, it’s all a bit unfathomable. Maybe “ moderately well known in the 90s” Danny Baker has been feeling like he should be back on the telly a bit more often. Acting like a right cock isn’t the way to go. Or these days maybe it is.....

axisus

Wazmeister said:

It's a really really sad indication of where we are as a nation now...

We cannot remotely joke, suggest, or imply anything that slightly offends the PC brigade... or there will be righteous, absolute consequences.

Scary where it will all lead us in the future...

We are in the future. This is where it led us to ...

Strat_a_tat_tat

Wazmeister said:

shrinkwrap said:

When you've been a broadcaster for so many years and know about being a professional, a micro-seconds thought would have told him this was dumb. Any organisation would sack an employee like that. Engage brain before opening mouth. Nothing PC about it.

Scary that Wazmeister seems to think it's fine - Count Dankula fan?

I don't think it's fine, at all... 

Strat_a_tat_tat said:
If that's the case... there was no indication of that in your original post.

Wazmeister said:

shrinkwrap said:

When you've been a broadcaster for so many years and know about being a professional, a micro-seconds thought would have told him this was dumb. Any organisation would sack an employee like that. Engage brain before opening mouth. Nothing PC about it. 

Scary that Wazmeister seems to think it's fine - Count Dankula fan?

... unrelenting judgement and the right to judge, is very worrying...

Strat_a_tat_tat said:
It's basic human nature to judge situations and people (it's part of survival instincts etc... evaluating situations and people). I'd be more worried by a world where individuals don't have the right to judge.



Wazmeister said:

shrinkwrap said:

When you've been a broadcaster for so many years and know about being a professional, a micro-seconds thought would have told him this was dumb. Any organisation would sack an employee like that. Engage brain before opening mouth. Nothing PC about it. 

Scary that Wazmeister seems to think it's fine - Count Dankula fan?

Wazmeister said:
As I said, its not this particular situation that concerns me, its the overall pattern of where we are heading as a society...

Strat_a_tat_tat said:
Not sure what you regard as 'the overall pattern'... so I can't comment on that. Maybe 'this particular situation' wasn't a good one to use regarding your concerns about a pattern.

However, to my mind, racism is not acceptable. And, it's all too easy for white people to attempt to pass off racist comments etc. as mere jokes. 

Heartfeltdawn

Wazmeister said:

shrinkwrap said:

When you've been a broadcaster for so many years and know about being a professional, a micro-seconds thought would have told him this was dumb. Any organisation would sack an employee like that. Engage brain before opening mouth. Nothing PC about it.

Scary that Wazmeister seems to think it's fine - Count Dankula fan?

I don't think it's fine, at all... but I do think the unrelenting judgement and the right to judge, is very worrying...

Now, let's assume Danny Baker has made a genuine mistake here; hadn't thought of the connections, and now he is paying the highest price for a statement, an opinion, a quick gag ?

Likewise, if he did  mean the racist gag, what should the penalties be for an opinion - even if I fundamentally disagree with that opinion ?

As I said, its not this particular situation that concerns me, its the overall pattern of where we are heading as a society...

In this situation, who has been the first to judge?

It's Baker himself by putting up that tweet. Whatever your feelings about the monarchy, and I'm far from an ardent supporter, Baker's made the judgement that they are worthy of a bit of humour. 

Now that in itself is fine. They are public figures and deserving of humour. So the next step should be to analyse the people you're making fun of and how you're doing it. As someone who had a Jewish mother in law with a salty sense of humour, I knew I could make some risque gags that she'd get. To a Jewish individual I don't know, I wouldn't go for those gags. 

In this instance, the couple who have just had their first kid have been subject to a great deal of tabloid conversation about race, some of it verging on twitching behind the curtains racism. The child is mixed race for fuck's sake. To go with a cartoon involving a chimp representing that baby is beyond idiotic. 

My worry is more that this is so representative of the modern digital culture, where things go up instantly without thought. I don't for one minute believe Baker is a racist but he has used an image inexorably linked with racism in this country that has been going for years and still happens now. For an experienced broadcaster, it's remarkable to think that he didn't ever consider the implications. 

tony99

Dominic said:

You can't be that stupid not to see the racist connotation.....
Think he is particularly unfunny and unpleasant anyway .........no time for people on tv or radio / media that delight in being badly spoken and sounding ignorant.......Danny Dyer etc etc .......no wonder so many children are illiterate.

What do you mean "badly spoken"?

Iamnobody

But he always uses chimpanzees in his jokes.

He stated: "He often talks about chimpanzees dressed as famous people without any racial subtext whatsoever.

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/showbiz-tv/unrepentant-danny-baker-gives-first-16249600

What a fucking penis.

tony99

Also he said they "literally threw me under a bus"

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/showbiz-tv/unrepentant-danny-baker-gives-first-16249600

I'll stake my trousers that's not true

Mark1960

Wazmeister said:

It's a really really sad indication of where we are as a nation now...

We cannot remotely joke, suggest, or imply anything that slightly offends the PC brigade... or there will be righteous, absolute consequences.

Scary where it will all lead us in the future...

As a "mixed race" kid growing up in Britain in the 60s & 70s, I have been called all sorts of names, including the N word and likened to all sorts of African primates, been chased by racist skin head thugs, and been racially discriminated by the police. If you consider that it's Ok to joke or imply that I'm not quite as far up the evolutionary chain as the good white folks round here, then I feel pity for you.

It's only by challenging bad behavior can we attempt to educate people that there is a better way to live. To hide behind the "it's only a joke mate" or "overly PC" card is frankly very disapointing.  Whether he deserved to get fired or not is not really the issue for me, it's the fact that some people think it's OK and no big deal. Try walking 58 years and several thousand miles in my shoes!

Jalapeno

Looks like Danny's off to Radio Norfolk for a decade or two ......... (geddit ?)

Wazmeister

Jalapeno said:

Looks like Danny's off to Radio Norfolk for a decade or two ......... (geddit ?)

"Dan....Dan....Dan...."

Heartfeltdawn

Wazmeister said:

Jalapeno said:

Looks like Danny's off to Radio Norfolk for a decade or two ......... (geddit ?)

"Dan....Dan....Dan...."

As much as I am against social disorder, a tweet tomorrow with a picture of his car reading Cock Piss Baker would be bloody hilarious. 

vasselmeyer

He'll be drinking out of one of these shortly...

fob

I genuinely can't stand the man - the knowing humour of a smart man who's not actually that smart. I remember seeing him on HIGNFY just after his cancer scare where he made light of how he'd fiddle his taxes; after getting boos instead of the laughter he was expecting it took him about 5 seconds to remind everyone he'd nearly died of cancer.

That said, I didn't read the tweet as being racist at first glance, more - like he said - a bringing down to earth of what is just another baby despite the media frenzy. Quite easy to see (in retrospect for him it seems) but hardly a call to arms for the Aryan race.

What's worrying is the seven-degrees-of-separation reasoning that's going on: he likes football - there's racism in football - they used to throw bananas in games - chimps like bananas - he's racist QED. Maybe he is racist, only he knows how he really meant it. I don't know, nor do you.

It's also interesting how many 'I'd (like to) punch/slap him' comments come up, not just here but all over social media. I've inferred a particular meaning to something he said - that entitles me to violence.

Caffeine_Vampire

How long until he’s snapped up by the Brexit Party?

Baker is an idiot. No loss to the airwaves. 

JezWynd

tony99 said:

Dominic said:

You can't be that stupid not to see the racist connotation.....
Think he is particularly unfunny and unpleasant anyway .........no time for people on tv or radio / media that delight in being badly spoken and sounding ignorant.......Danny Dyer etc etc .......no wonder so many children are illiterate.

What do you mean "badly spoken"?

Professional Sarf Londoner?

blueskunk

fob said:

I genuinely can't stand the man - the knowing humour of a smart man who's not actually that smart. I remember seeing him on HIGNFY just after his cancer scare where he made light of how he'd fiddle his taxes; after getting boos instead of the laughter he was expecting it took him about 5 seconds to remind everyone he'd nearly died of cancer.

That said, I didn't read the tweet as being racist at first glance, more - like he said - a bringing down to earth of what is just another baby despite the media frenzy. Quite easy to see (in retrospect for him it seems) but hardly a call to arms for the Aryan race.

What's worrying is the seven-degrees-of-separation reasoning that's going on: he likes football - there's racism in football - they used to throw bananas in games - chimps like bananas - he's racist QED. Maybe he is racist, only he knows how he really meant it. I don't know, nor do you.

It's also interesting how many 'I'd (like to) punch/slap him' comments come up, not just here but all over social media. I've inferred a particular meaning to something he said - that entitles me to violence.

Chat shit, get banged insult me with racist shit expect a slap, if in my company.  Dead easy.