We don't in fact "know" why offence was taken in this case, because we don't know the full circumstances. We can guess, and we can pick through that press story and decide which version of the incident we believe and which we don't, and we might be right, and we might be wrong. But it makes more sense to pay attention to the issues stirred up rather than to the particular incident.

At one time it was the French who were liable to be referred to as monkeys in England, hence the unfortunate case of the Hartlepool Monkey, said to have been hanged after being accused of being a French spy.