BY LUCY CAULKETT
A petition to ban new heavyweight boxing champion, Tyson Fury, from the sports personality of the year has reached 50,000 after his comments comparing homosexuality to paedophilia in an interview with the Daily Mail before his surprise title win in Germany. Fury had told Daily Mail reporter, Oliver Holt that only three things needed to be complete before the devil Armageddon takes place: one of them is homosexuality being legal, the other is abortion, and the third is paedophilia. Alice Balding, wife of BBC Sports Personality of the Year, Claire Balding categorically condemned his inclusion on the shortlist, branding him a “homophobic idiot”.
Alice Arnold, who married Balding earlier this year, warned that his remarks encouraged homophobic bullying.
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Writing in the Guardian newspaper, Ms Arnold said: “It is talk like this that leads to young people suffering bullying and mental illness and in some cases being driven to suicide.
“If you don’t like gay people and think we are the devil incarnate, then keep it to yourself unless you want blood on your hands – and not on your boxing gloves. It will be up to us to cast our votes… perhaps this year ‘personality’ really IS important.” His comments have understandably sparked Fury in the media and gay circles.However, in a YouTube video for IFL TV which Fury posted online yesterday, the 27-year-old said he was not interested in the awards and branded all those petitioning against him “w*****s”.
A spokesman said: “The Sports Personality shortlist is compiled by a panel of industry experts and is based on an individual’s sporting achievement – it is not an endorsement of an individual’s personal beliefs either by the BBC or members of the panel.”
TARNISHED
Fury’s image was further tarnished when he said a woman’s place is in the kitchen or on her back, and that Jessica Ernis looks fit when she’s got a dress on”. The careless talking gypsy was branded sexist for those comments, though the latter comment was most likely borne out of ignorance and lack of awareness on the part of the heavyweight champion. The freedom of women to dress in classy outfits whenever they like is without dispute, though a mans preference to see a woman in a dress is a personal matter of taste.
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Fury’s offence comes with his relegation of a woman’s place to the kitchen because modern times promotes equality of treatment for both men and women. Gone are the days when women must be confined to the kitchen even if his wife has dutifully accepted this post. Many professional women split domestic duties with their partners and some even hire men to cater for the necessary impeccable look of the home. In reality, Fury is too uneducated to understand this; he himself concedes backwardness and perhaps should be forgiven for the stupidity of his latter comments.
BACKWARD
He sounds candidly remorseful and embarrassed when he says “I’m a little bit backward. I didn’t really go to school. Which part of a woman looks good in a dress is sexist? Or was it about the cooking and cleaning? (My wife’s) job is cooking and cleaning and looking after these kids. That’s it.
“She does get to make some decisions. What she’s going to cook me for tea in a bit when I get home. That’s the decisions what she gets to make.”
Fury needs to understand that the role of a woman cannot be defined by the operations of his wife at home. Not all women have a partner who is a professional boxer with money, and not all women are Paris Fury- satisfied with doing just the cooking, cleaning, and making of tea. Just like men, women are vastly different with wide ambitions of their own, depending on their skills and abilities. His wife may be happy staying home making tea, but I am not.
Comments like those made by the champion will only go far in reinforcing the view that he is not smart at all and has no brains- although in reality the man simply lacks exposure which may come with time.
PERSONALITY
Fury’s reaction to the petitions against his inclusion in this years sports personality of the year has been simple: he does not care!
“I can honestly say I’m not really interested in winning BBC Sports Personality of the Year. I know I’ve got more personality in the end of my little finger than the whole of the nomination group put together.
“I’ve got more personality in my little toe than they’ve all got put together, so if it comes to personality there’s only one winner. If it comes to sporting achievements there’s only one winner,” he said.
In an implicit attack on the choice of John Hamilton, Fury asked “What personality does it take to drive a car around a track 100 times or hit a ball back and forth. That’s not very personality (sic) is it?”. Fury is right that driving around in a car does not constitute a personality, what he does not understand is that the way he goes about things himself will ensure that the British public as a whole never warm up to him. People will be itching to see him beaten and will be cynical about him if he carries on spitting sensitive comments without restraint.
Fury, who has two children, Venezuela and Prince, has been married to his wife Paris for seven years. He said :
“My belief is that my wife should be at home looking after my kids and cooking and cleaning. She’s a very privileged woman to have a husband like me. Not everyone’s in her position, but the ones who are are very lucky. That’s my opinion,” Fury said. The fact not every woman is in her position is the very reason he should not define all women according to her role.
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