World boxing champion Tyson Fury is under investigation for a hate crime over comments he made comparing homosexuality to pedophilia.
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Pressure has been mounting on the BBC after more than 100,000 people signed a petition set up by the LGBT campaigner Scott Cuthbertson which calls for Fury to be removed from the shortlist.
Fury was to have defended his title against IBF’s mandatory challenger Vyacheslav Glazkov but has instead opted to have a rematch with Klitschko.
The Morecambe fighter, 27, beat Ukraine’s Wladimir Klitschko in Dusseldorf on November 29 to win the WBA, WBO and IBF world titles.
Lewis posted a reply to Fury’s comments on his Facebook page yesterday in which he denied having any cause for jealousy over Fury’s recent success and expressed his surprise at the comments having had dinner with Fury the night before his fight with Klitschko.
Speaking on BBC Radio Two’s Jeremy Vine programme on Monday, Fury refused to back down on his claims that the world would end once homosexuality, abortion and paedophilia were legalised.
The BBC has responded to the petition saying the nomination doesn’t mean that it endorses Fury’s views and added the nominees for BBC Sports Personality of the Year, which takes place on 20 December, were selected on their sporting achievements.
Amaechi told BBC Breakfast Fury should remain on the shortlist as the heavyweight was “quite right” about his boxing victory.
Maloney’s comments come after Greater Manchester Police (GMP) confirmed they were investigating hate crime allegations following comments by the boxer on the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire Show on Tuesday. These were “homosexuality being legal in countries”, along with abortion and paedophilia.
Of fellow SPOTY contender Jessica Ennis-Hill, Britain’s Olympic heptathlon champion, he said: “She slaps up well”.
The SNP’s culture spokesman at Westminster, John Nicolson MP, has written to the BBC asking that Fury be removed from the shortlist. He’s a jealous old man. He’s a jealous old man because I’m at the top of the world and he’s a has been.
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Fury, who is of traveller heritage and styles himself as the “Gypsy King”, has denied being homophobic or sexist and says his views merely reflect what is written in the Bible. Let’s not try to make me out to be an evil person. “Young kids. I am a good role model. So can I suggest that we invite him to parliament sometime in the near future because frankly I’m quite happy to go head-to-head with him”.
