Heavyweight champion Tyson Fury today responded to a petition to be removed from the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year shortlist over comments about women, gays and abortion, saying he loves all people.
A petition to remove Fury from the list of candidates has reached almost 80.000 signatures, after he said that the best place for a woman is "on her back", criticizing homosexuals and abortion along the way.
"Tyson Fury loves all his fellow humans. He doesn't hate anyone," Fury told BBC Radio XNUMX today.
Fury is 27 years old, and on November 28 he won the WBA, IBF, WBO, IBO world championship titles, as well as the hereditary title after defeating Wladimir Klitschko, who was champion for 11 years, on points in Dusseldorf.
Fury said earlier after that victory that he is not sexist and that his comments about women are his personal opinion.
"I'm not sexist. I believe that a woman's rightful place is in the kitchen and on the back. That's my personal belief. If she makes me a good cup of tea, I believe in that," said Fury, who also made sexist comments about athlete Jessica Ennis. Hill, who is also among the candidates for the award.
Fury, who calls himself the "King of the Gypsies" because of his Irish Traveler heritage, said today that all his comments were about his family.
"I love my women, and what I said only applies to my wife. She knows where she belongs, I know where she belongs. That's the culture of our people. It has nothing to do with the world or anyone else . If I were a normal person, if I wasn't in the spotlight, nobody would make a scene about what I'm saying to my wife," Fury said.
The new world champion said earlier that the only remaining prerequisite "for the devil to come" is the legalization of pedophilia, since abortion and homosexuality have already been decriminalized.
"There are only three things that need to be done for the devil to come home. One of them is to make homosexuality legal, the second is abortion, and the third is pedophilia. Who would have thought in the fifties and sixties that the first two things would be legalized?" , Fury said earlier.
In an interview with the BBC today, he tried to clarify his views.
"Let's not make me some evil person who hates gays, because I don't hate anyone. I can say that I don't hate anyone. The only thing I can give to people is love and the world has to understand that. What a man does in his home and with his people is his own business," Fury said.
The petition was launched by LGBT activist Scott Cuthbertson, who accused the BBC of double standards, saying the boxer would have been removed from the list if his comments had been racist.
"He has repeatedly made demeaning, offensive, homophobic and sexist remarks. He is absolutely entitled to his views, but the point here is that the BBC is setting up Tyson as a role model for young people," he said.
The BBC said it would not remove Tyson from the list of candidates, saying that the list was compiled by an expert committee based on individual sporting achievements, and that it did not represent an endorsement of individual personal views.
Bonus video:
