The Labour MP Chris Bryant has offered to go “head-to-head” with Tyson Fury after the heavy weight boxer made controversial comments referencing paedophilia along with homosexuality and abortion.
The Shadow Cabinet Minister criticised Fury’s nomination for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award amid controversy over his interview with the Mail on Sunday.
A Change.org petition urging the BBC to pull Fury from the shortlist over accusations of homophobia continues to gain traction, but the corporation said it has no plans to review his nomination.
Speaking in the House of Commons on Thursday, he told MPs: “You will have seen that Tyson Fury won the world heavyweight boxing title last weekend and he has now been nominated for the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year. I hope he doesn’t win.
“You may also have seen his comments: ‘There are only three things,’ he has said, ‘that need to be accomplished before the devil comes home. One of them is homosexuality being legal in countries, one of them is abortion, and the other one is paedophilia.’
“Leaving aside the bizarre, rather heterodox theology, this equates homosexuality with paedophilia. As I hope the Leader would agree, that is profoundly offensive and it’s the kind of language that leads to more young people committing suicide.
“Now, I gather Mr Fury has subsequently said that some of his best friends are gay. So can I suggest that we invite him to parliament sometime in the near future because frankly I’m quite happy to go head-to-head with him."
Fury has denied accusations of homophobia and claimed he was misquoted by the paper.
Bryant also refused to celebrate Fury’s win over Ukranian fighter Wladimir Klitschko on Saturday and accused the 27-year-old of promoting “aggressive” homophobia that encourages young gay people to take their own lives.
