Petition against boxing champ Tyson Fury gets 30,000 signatures in three days
A petition that calls for the removal of Tyson Fury from the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award shortlist has reached 30,000 signatures in three days.
The British boxer was nominated for the prestiguous BBC award earlier this week after defeating Wladimir Klitschko to become the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight champion.
But Fury has received significant criticism for a series of bizarre homophobic outbursts, including how he believes homosexuality will bring about the apocalypse and has also likened homosexuality to paedophilia.
The petition has reveived significant support across social media, and at the time of writing it has recieved over 32,000 signitures in just three days.
Scott Cuthbertson, who is the development manager for the Equality Network, started the petition saying “Homophobia has long been a barrier to the participation of LGBTI people in Sport.
“Young people need sports personalities that they can look up to not people who express outrageous homophobic views, which can cause bullying and self-harm.
“As someone who works in the LGBTI human rights sector I’ve seen first hand the barriers to sport for LGBTI people. The sports sector is working hard to be more inclusive and to welcome LGBTI people,
“Fury’s comments set that cause back.”
According to Cuthbertson the BBC have responded to the petition, saying “The nominees for BBC Sports Personality of the Year are decided on their sporting achievements.
“As Fury became heavyweight champion of the world over the weekend, the panel feel that he should be a contender for this year’s award.”
But Cuthbertson is not happy with the BBC’s response, saying “The BBC clearly do not understand that by nominating Fury, who has on a number of occasions expressed homophobic views and compared homosexuality to paedophilia, they are putting him up as a role model to young people all over the UK and the world.”
Fury has also recently been slammed for his views by shadow cabinet minister Chris Bryant, who has said that Fury’s outbursts could potentially lead to ‘young gay suicides’.
