The problem for me is that if we go down this road of any mention or reference to a monkey/ape/gorilla/primate must be looked at in a racial context it completely undermines the serious efforts of various parties to deal with more blatant and open acts, such as monkey chants at football matches.
On the one hand I see the point made by a previous poster about the BBC being forced to act as though it was an actual slur, but at the same time the willingness to call out Baker on this, or anyone else who makes an inadvertant reference, I think actually provides ammunition to the more ignorant end of the spectrum who just see it as a mainstream celebrity making the comment (rather than him being punished for it - that won't bother them).
The airwaves are full of people whose job it is to sail close to the line to provoke debate - be it Danny Baker, Piers Morgan, Jeremy Kyle, Jeremy vine, or that vile woman from the Apprentice whose name thankfully escapes me - which I personally find intensely annoying and a damning sign of the world today, not least because so many listeners fall for the trick day by day, and take these people seriously. They can all - as I believe the modern parlance suggests - "do one" as far as I am concerned. Let people/listeners on air who can build their own argument, not just spoon feed them rant-fodder.
The irony of course, is that more often than not, it is actually 'innocent' slips such as Baker this week/Morgan on Barkeley that seem to eventually catch them out and get them into trouble, rather than the more dangerous they say to rouse the rabble...
I dont think for a second that Baker meant any racial reference in his tweet, and I fear that if we carry on as we are, then it is only a matter of time before monkeys are removed from our zoos in order to remove any perceived references (most probably from white people) to slavery etc etc......
