Tony Hall, the Director General of the BBC, has defended his handling of Tyson Fury’s nomination for Sports Personality of the Year after being challenged by an MP over reports in the Belfast Telegraph.
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Speaking at the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Lord Hall said, “He’s been put on that list because of his sporting prowess”.
“Tyson also has a great personality, and if BBC Sports Personality of the Year was actually based on “personality”, he would win hands down”.
Since becoming heavyweight champion of the world, Fury has attracted a lot of media attention for classing homosexuality with paedophilia and for saying a woman’s place is “on her back”.
He was quick to distance himself from Fury’s comments, adding: “In terms of the policies that we promote, the BBC is completely at odds with what Tyson Fury has said”.
Understandably, a lot of people are offended by his controversial views. But there are others who say, “do you know what, we kind of believe in free speech and we will make sure when it comes to the vote, trust us to say what is right when we come to vote”.
Rutherford, who won gold at the World Championships in August, added: “I probably won’t speak to him [Fury], I have made my stance clear and a big part of it, that I said to the BBC privately, is that I would not go for a drink or meet up with this person with views like that and that still stands”.
“For me this is the fundamental principle”. “I trust voters to make sense of what is going on”. ‘Tyson Fury has caused serious offence with his recent homophobic and sexist remarks, and he has rebuffed many opportunities to apologise or show regret, ‘ he said.
Fury and Andy Murray were late additions to the shortlist after their respective efforts to reclaim the boxing world title and Davis Cup, bringing the number of contenders to 12.
Long jumper Greg Rutherford has revealed he and his family received Twitter abuse for his stance over comments made by boxer Tyson Fury.
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The Sports Writers’ Association – now the Sports Journalists’ Association – was formed in 1948, after the second London Olympics, and has been staging its awards since 1949 – five years before the BBC’s Paul Fox and Peter Dimmock put together what was first called the Sports Review of the Year.
