Danny Baker is a fool – but the BBC were far too hasty in reacting to a Twitter pile-on

Danny Baker is evidently a berk.

To tweet an image of a suit-wearing chimp as he did yesterday with the caption “Royal baby leaves hospital” was a misjudgement of monumental proportions.

What’s more, his initial attempt to undo the offence caused by his action, left a lot to be desired – referring as it did to some people being “whipped up”, and suggesting he had not spotted the possible racist connotations of depicting a mixed-race baby as a monkey.

That latter point may well be true, and Danny Baker may indeed – as he has said passionately – not have a racist bone in his body. But in that case, it was the most extraordinary oversight; and one which ignores the very overt racism which black footballers have, in recent times, been subjected to. Given Baker’s love of the sometimes not so beautiful game, his failure to see what was staring him in the face is even more egregious.

So, should he have been fired from his presenting role at the BBC?

There are good reasons in favour: the tweet caused huge offence; his justification suggests, at the very least, a massive blind spot which might hinder his performance in his job. The Beeb, as a public service broadcaster, no doubt feels it must be beyond reproach and take a zero tolerance approach.

Nevertheless, the manner in which the relationship between employer and employee was severed feels less than ideal. At the most general level, immediate dismissal for disciplinary failings ought to be very rare. If we believe in workers’ rights, then proper processes are important.

According to Baker, the BBC predicated the termination of his contract on a belief that he “meant that tweet” – presumably, in other words, understood the racist connotations and yet tweeted the image anyway. Baker plainly disputes that interpretation. Should the BBC have not taken a little more time to consider his defence, and to facilitate a more genuine expression of contrition?

As it is, by giving Baker the boot, the BBC has not only put his defences up, it has also given succour to those who (unlike Baker himself perhaps) continue to see nothing much wrong with the photograph and who will use the presenter’s dismissal as evidence of how the “pc brigade” is clamping down on freedom of expression.

This isn’t to say that Baker shouldn’t have been ditched; but procedure is as important as outcome in a case like this. Just as Baker ought to have taken his time before hitting the tweet button, so ought the BBC when it came to ejecting their fallen star.

But then, isn’t this what this incident is all about: time, or a lack of it.

The joy of social media is its instantaneousness. Each of us can react in the moment: to roar our anger at injustice, or our approval of a brilliant TV moment. We can engage with friends and strangers alike; making a pithy comment or funny joke that, if we’re lucky, can go viral.

This of course is its downside too. We tweet unthinkingly or unwisely, provoked by a snippy remark into an unprintable comeback line. Something which seems hilarious at 11pm becomes an embarrassment in the cold light of the next morning.

And when a Twitter storm hits, it can gather momentum like little else. When individual or corporate reputations are on the line, the immediate temptation is not only to point fingers, but to make heads roll. Lives and careers can be defined, and sometimes destroyed, before you can say “I only meant to DM my mate”.

In Baker’s case, sympathy may be in short order. After all, as Twitter faux pas go, it’s right up there with the best – which is to say worst – of them. Racism (even if disseminated by someone who isn’t a racist) has no place in a modern, progressive society.

However, in both offence and reaction what price for a modicum of reflection, or consideration? That is something we could all benefit from.