Dear BBC

I love you. You know that. I’ve defended you on many occasions and will continue to do so.

But every now and then you get your knickers in a right old twist.

This is one of those occasions.

Despite a petition of over 130,000 signatures and a sizeable outcry, you refuse to rescind the nomination of Tyson Fury as BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

I just want to point out that the title of your event is Sports PERSONALITY of the Year. It is every bit as much about character and being a national hero as it is about sporting progress.

Fury has made comments about gay people that are every bit as offensive as the comments that Trump recently made towards Muslims.

And yet, by keeping him in the competition, you are essentially validating these opinions. I know there is a liberal argument for saying “keep him in the competition and then watch him lose”. Sometimes I am swayed by this type of argument. But in this instance it is bollocks. Nobody loses Sports Personality of the Year. Somebody wins but nobody loses.

It’s more like the Oscars: five people are nominated, one person wins. The remainder get to go around describing themselves as “Oscar Nominated” for the rest of their lives.

By keeping him in your competition you are effectively allowing him to say “the BBC validated my personality” for the rest of time. Is this what you want? Or is your thinking just a tad muddled on this one?

To make it worse, a member of your news team calls Tyson Fury a “dickhead” on your channel (hilarious moment, love the man) and all you do is issue an apology for the use of language. Whereas a gay presenter makes a reasoned argument on his private Facebook page as to how he feels you are letting him and other gay people down with your stance in this matter – and you suspend him pending an investigation.

Does that seem fair?

Sort yourself out, BBC. Please. You’re in the wrong and you know it. Now buck up and do the right thing

Yours

Mr Reasonable Tunbridge Wells

xx

PS And while we're on the subject, if you let your presenters wear poppies then fucking let Graham Norton wear an AIDS ribbon. One commemorates the people who died from waging war, the other commemorates the people who died from making love. I'm not saying that one should be prioritised over the other. But you are. And you're wrong.