Tyson Fury said homosexuality would lead to the apocalypse – but has denied that he is homophobic.
A Change.org petition to remove heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury from the BBC Sports Personality of the Year shortlist has reached 30,000 signatures in two days.
Change.org / Via change.org
Fury beat Ukrainian fighter Wladimir Klitschko to become the world heavyweight champion on Saturday, and it was announced that he was on the Sports Personality shortlist on Monday.
Tyson Fury (right) in the ring with Christian Hammer.
Richard Heathcote / Getty Images
But LGBT rights campaigners have called for him to be excluded from the list due to his recent comments on homosexuality.
The Manchester-born boxer told the Mail on Sunday in November, in the build-up to his fight against Klitschko, that there are three things that need to happen "before the devil comes home".
"One of them is homosexuality being legal in countries, one of them is abortion and the other is paedophilia," he said. "Who would have thought in the 50s and 60s that those first two would be legalised?"
Human rights and LGBT campaigner Peter Tatchell responded by labelling Fury "deranged".
"Tyson is a brilliant boxer but a very bigoted and confused Christian," he told the Daily Mail.
"To equate same-sex love with abortion and paedophilia is deranged and offensive."
Matt Cardy / Getty Images
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