Danny Baker’s sacking is history repeating itself – the BBC has axed the DJ before.
BBC Radio 5 Live dropped Baker’s soccer phone-in show in 1997 when the broadcaster’s news chief Tony Hall, now the corporation’s director general, said he had crossed “the line between being humorous and controversial and being insulting”.
He was ousted from his Wednesday slot, The Baker Line, and turned down an offer to continue his Saturday lunchtime programme.
Just got fired from @bbc5live.For the record – it was red sauce. Always.
— Danny Baker (@prodnose) May 9, 2019
The DJ has been unafraid to publicly criticise his BBC bosses, calling them “pinheaded weasels”.
In 2012, he launched an on-air rant against them, after his BBC London 94.9 show was also axed, days before he was due to be inducted into the Radio Academy Hall of Fame.
Baker complained about the pay his co-hosts were given and said he hoped the decision-makers “choked” on their abacus beads.
Once again. Sincere apologies for the stupid unthinking gag pic earlier. Was supposed to be joke about Royals vs circus animals in posh clothes but interpreted as about monkeys & race, so rightly deleted. Royal watching not my forte.Also, guessing it was my turn in the barrel. pic.twitter.com/86cQGbAhDc
— Danny Baker (@prodnose) May 8, 2019
He added: “By the way, nice way to treat a bloke who had cancer.”
Baker’s agent Alex Armitage claimed at the time that he was dropped as a result of cuts in the budget to the local radio network.
Two years previously, Baker announced he had been diagnosed with cancer.
He endured months of agonising treatment and years of recovery for neck and head cancer and had a period off-air while he underwent treatment.
In 2016, the DJ was the first celebrity to leave I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! despite being the last person in.
“My winning personality once again descends upon the nation,” he quipped at the time.
Now it's started raining. Perfect. #IntoEveryLife
— Danny Baker (@prodnose) May 9, 2019
He denied he was a bully in the jungle following a confrontation with Homes Under The Hammer host Martin Roberts.
“I’m not responsible for a bloke who breaks down and cries after I’ve picked him up because he’s having a go at one of the girls in there,” he said.
Baker made his name as a journalist on the punk fanzine Sniffin’ Glue before going on to work at NME and launching a career in TV and radio.
Also known as a scriptwriter for his friend Chris Evans, he became a roving reporter for London ITV magazine programme The Six O’Clock Show and presented programmes such as Win, Lose Or Draw and Pets Win Prizes.
But he previously told Desert Island Discs: “I don’t feel that’s somehow lucky when you look around at some of the half-wits and boss-eyed bozos who people this business and they are running departments.
“So all of this is an anthill that somebody has kicked over and I happen to be one of the more bumptious ants.”
He added: “The television shows I’ve done have been an appalling waste of time … My mind is whizzing with them. A show called The Bottom Line that was no good, I’ve done a thing called Sitcom Showdown that was ridiculous.”