Olympic gold medalist Greg Rutherford has told the BBC will pull out of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards if Tyson Fury is left on the shortlist.
Rutherford has told the BBC that he will not remain on the list alongside Fury.
According to The Belfast Telegraph, BBC executive are concerned other nominees will follow Rutherford if he does pull out.
New World Heavyweight boxing champion Fury has refused to apologise after comparing homosexuality to paedophilia in an interview in the Mail on Sunday.
A video of Fury saying Olympian Jessica Ennis-Hill "slaps up good" also appeared online last week.
A petition has now been launched calling on the BBC to drop him for the Sports Personality of the Year shortlist. SNP MP John Nicolson has also written to BBC Director General Tony Hall asking for the boxer to be removed from the list.
A spokesperson for the BBC told Pink News that it will not change the nominations.
A spokesperson 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.”
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