Tyson Fury was nominated for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award earlier this week - but he needs to be removed immediately.
Why? Because celebrities have the responsibility of being role models, whether they like it or not.
Don't get me wrong, it's a hard life having to watch everything you say so as not to insult the masses - but, for whatever it's worth, tough. That's the life of anyone on social media these days and if the mass majority of people can watch what they say, then why can't Tyson Fury?
For anyone not in the know, or for those that have been wearing Fury rose tinted glasses all week, let me check off all of the things he's managed to achieve so far:
Winner of three World Heavyweight titles? Check.
Extreme homophobia stating that homosexuals are “one of the three things that will lead to the apocalypse.”? Check.
Extreme sexism saying that fellow SPOTY nominee Jessica Ennis-Hill is “quite fit when she’s got a dress on”? Check.
Quite the charmer, am I right? Oh - and to further the extreme sexism - he also said that a woman's place is either on her back or in the kitchen.
Can we all just remember for a second this is 2015 that we're living in? Is this the sort of role model being celebrated that we want our children growing up with?
Shadow Cabinet minister Chris Bryan, said of Fury “his aggressive style of foul homophobia is precisely the kind that leads to young gay suicides”.
And he's right. LGBT youth are 4 times more likely, and questioning youth are 3 times more likely, to attempt suicide as their straight peers - so why is the BBC holding Fury up on a pedestal?
A quick search on Twitter can see how influential he is. After Scott Cuthbertson set up the petition to have Fury removed from the SPOTY list, he received the following abuse:
@ScotCuthbertson shut up cocksucker. Go join ISIS where freedom of speech is illegal 🍆🇬🇧
— Kell Brook (@SpeciaIKBrook) December 4, 2015
Found the scumbag who did that anti Tyson Fury petition @ScotCuthbertson. All 41,000 people who've signed it I'll fight and knock out.
— TYSON FURY FAN (@billy_huyton) December 4, 2015
The above is similar to the abuse Coralie Alison received after Tyler, The Creator falsely claimed she had him “banned from Australia” and pointed her out to his almost 2.5 million fans on Twitter.
This is 2015 and celebrities need to be held accountable for their actions and words. The BBC can only rectify placing him on the list in the first place in one way. Removing him. Immediately.
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