BBC journalist Andy West has been suspended from work after saying he was “ashamed” that his employer had nominated world heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury for its Sports Personality of the Year (Spoty) award.
The gay English-born Northern Ireland-based journalist said he wrote to the BBC director general Tony Hall to question Fury’s nomination after the boxer made homophobic and sexist comments publically before and after his title-winning bout against Wladimir Klitschko two weeks ago.
West was furious at Fury’s attempt to link homosexuality to pedophilia.
He confirmed his suspension from work at BBC Northern Ireland on his Facebook page on Thursday.
“I can’t say more but, as of yesterday, I am suspended by the BBC pending investigation. I made my bed now I have time to lie in it!” West wrote.
“My employer is hurting me and other gay people by celebrating someone who considers me no better than a pedophile and who believes homosexual people are helping to bring about the end of the world.
“It’s tempting to see him for the laughable idiot he is but sadly there are many other idiots who will be inspired and encouraged by his naive, juvenile bigotry.
“I am ashamed to work for the BBC when it lacks bravery to admit it is making a mistake.”
The BBC would not comment on the West situation.
“We do not routinely comment on individual staff matters.”
BBC boss Hall is expected to be questioned about Fury’s nomination for the Spoty by the UK parliament’s culture, media and sport select committee next week.BBC journalist Andy West has been suspended from work after saying he was “ashamed” that his employer had nominated world heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury for its Sports Personality of the Year (Spoty) award.
The gay English-born Northern Ireland-based journalist said he wrote to the BBC director general Tony Hall to question Fury’s nomination after the boxer made homophobic and sexist comments publically before and after his title-winning bout against Wladimir Klitschko two weeks ago.
Fury summoned
Fury has been summoned to face the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBC) early next year owing to his controversial comments that have generated headlines around the world.
The 27-year-old said he was not scared of being accused of homophobia as his religious beliefs as a Christian confirmed for him that being gay is a sin.
“There are only three things that need to be accomplished before the devil comes home,” Fury told the Mail on Sunday.
“One of them is homosexuality being legal in countries, one of them is abortion and the other is pedophilia. Who would have thought in the ’50s and ’60s that those first two would be legalised?
“When I say pedophiles could be made legal, it sounds crazy. But if I had said to you about the first two being made legal in the ’50s, I would have been looked upon as a crazy man.”
Fury also said Olympic heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis-Hill “slaps up good”, before adding: “A woman’s best place is in the kitchen and on her back —— that’s my personal belief.”
The BBBC met to discuss the matter and the general secretary Robert Smith confirmed that Fury had been called to a “please explain” meeting in the new year.
Fury, who has been hit by an international media backlash, remains defiant about the comments and claims that he was misunderstood.
“I have no hate for anybody,” Fury told Sky television on Thursday.
“I haven’t any enemies, I don’t hate any race, colour, creed, generation, nobody.”
Th greater Manchester police were investigating hate crime allegations against the boxer for the comments made.
Spoty withdrawal u-turn
In more news around the controversial boxer, British athlete Greg Rutherford says he has changed his mind about withdrawing from the BBC Sports Personality show over Fury’s comments.
Rutherford said he planned to pull out of the event in Belfast on December 20, but the long jump champion is now attending “to make my family proud and to thank them for the support in my career.”
“I have opinions, of which I was privately clear. I DID pull out of SPOTY, on Sunday I wrote to the BBC requesting removal,” he said on Twitter.
“Throughout the next two days the SPOTY team asked me to stay on. Also, I realised my nomination meant so much to my family.
“I then asked myself, do I really want to disappoint my own family just because of a bigot’s views? The answer was no.”
A petition, which calls for Fury’s removal from the shortlist of 12, has been signed by 130,000 people.
