Danny Baker, a radio host on BBC's Radio 5 Live, was fired after comparing Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's son, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, to a chimp on Twitter. According to Deadline, Baker said he was let go due to a "stupid unthinking gag" about the newborn.
On Thursday, Baker, who has worked in British television and radio since the 1980s, posted a picture of a monkey holding hands with a couple with the caption, "Royal baby leaves hospital."
He was terminated after the tweet went viral.
The veteran host denied being racist and referred to the tweet as an "enormous mistake."
Addressing his departure from the station, Baker called the British public broadcaster's decision to let him go a "masterclass of pompous faux-gravity."
A spokesperson for the BBC released a statement in the wake of Baker's termination. "This was a serious error of judgment and goes against the values we as a station aim to embody," a BBC spokesman said. "Danny’s a brilliant broadcaster but will no longer be presenting a weekly show with us."
This isn't the first time the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been the subject of racially offensive content. A German candymaker came under fire for comparing Markle to a chocolate-covered marshmallow after her May 2018 wedding.
Prior to tying the knot, the couple was sent a suspicious package that was deemed a "racist hate crime" by British police.
