BY LUCY CAULKETT
The furore over the inclusion of Tyson Fury in this years sports personality of the year, televised live this Sunday, continues. Mp’s today interrogated BBC director general, Tony Hall, over his decision not to remove Fury forom their list. Hall defended the BBC decision by saying Fury had been put on their list for his sporting prowess and that he trusted the public to make a decision on who should win the contest. When further questionned by a committee of Mp’s, Hall insisted ”in terms of the policies that we promote, the BBC is completely at odds with what Tyson Fury has said”.
After John Nicolson- an SNP MP and former broadcaster, read out two of Fury’s tweets underlining his homophobic and sexist statements, the latter talking about going home to break his wife’s jaw. “What do you think women and gay kids watching this will think?” he asked. “That the BBC allowed him to go up on a pedestal?”
Hall replied “I hope they will vote and make their views known,” said Hall, after pointing out that the list of 12 had been drawn up by a independent panel and not by the BBC.
However, Shadow Labour culture secretary Michael Dugher, was less convinced and said Hall had failed to “adequately justify” his refusal to remove Fury. “Tyson Fury has caused serious offence with his recent homophobic and sexist remarks, and he has rebuffed many opportunities to apologise or show regret. The Sports Personality of the Year awards are not just about celebrating sporting achievement, they are about honouring role models too.
“Tyson Fury crossed a line with his comments, and leaving him as one of the nominees will be seen by many as condoning his unacceptable behaviour. It’s not too late for the BBC to do the right thing and drop him from the programme.”
Sounds like a reasonable point from the culture secretary, more especially as the boxer has failed to apologize for his comments but has instead tried to justify them. His face really should only appear on television when he is actually fighting because even him appearing on television actually presents him as some sort of star, which he is not. He beat an old champion, and that’s as far as it goes. Nicolson pressed Hall further by asking whether someone who had made anti-Muslim remarks would be allowed on the list, Hall said: “I’m really not going to get into hypotheticals … one of the things key to the BBC is that we are impartial, a place where people’s views should be heard … For me, this is the fundamental principle. I trust our viewers, listeners, voters to make sense of what is going on.”
Hall’s proclivity towards impartiality is honourable, though on a matter this serious he is pressed for answers as to why he will not remove Fury from the list. The fact the list was picked by an independent panel does not stop the BBC from intervening and taking someone off that they deem unfit for the high pedestal of the BBC’s sports personality of the year. Trusting the British public to make a choice is not good enough because what he is basically saying is that if by some miracle, they do vote for Fury to win, it is acceptable for a man with the disgraceful weaknesses and character flaws as Fury to be their sports personality of the year. If this is not the case, then the outrageous boxer really should be dropped like a bad habit.
An online protest signed by more than 130,000 people so far indicates just how offended people are by Fury’s selfish and offensive comments. Hall’s suggestion for the concept of a role model to be included as a criteria in future sports personality events by the BBC may actually be a welcoming one, but the BBC boss is yet to make any firm commitment in this direction.
This is Hall’s his sixth appearance before a select committee this year, the same number as chancellor George Osborne. Hall added that a new governance system could improve accountability at the BBC while urging MPs to extend the life of the charter to avoid political interference. Tony Hal is the 16th Director General of the BBC.
