A Change.org petition to remove heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury from the BBC Sports Personality of the Year shortlist has reached 30,000 signatures in two days.
Fury beat Ukrainian fighter Wladimir Klitschko to become the world heavyweight champion on Saturday, and it was announced that he was on the Sports Personality shortlist on Monday.
But LGBT rights campaigners have called for him to be excluded from the list due to his recent comments on homosexuality.
The Manchester-born boxer told the Mail on Sunday in November, in the build-up to his fight against Klitschko, that there are three things that need to happen "before the devil comes home".
"One of them is homosexuality being legal in countries, one of them is abortion and the other is paedophilia," he said. "Who would have thought in the 50s and 60s that those first two would be legalised?"
Human rights and LGBT campaigner Peter Tatchell responded by labelling Fury "deranged".
The BBC says its prestigious annual "personality" award is focused purely on sporting achievements and has defended the inclusion of Fury in the shortlist.
But Scott Cuthbertson, who started the petition to remove Fury from the shortlist, says the BBC have misjudged the decision.
.@BBCSPOTY 25k and rising people want you to take Fury off the shortlist. Are you listening? https://t.co/RWd6VA2Tma #SPOTY
"The BBC clearly do not understand that by nominating Fury, who has on a number of occasions expressed homophobic views and compared homosexuality to paedophilia, they are putting him up as a role model to young people all over the UK and the world," he wrote on Change.org.
The 35-year-old Edinburgh resident told BuzzFeed News: "As soon as I saw his name was on the list I knew we had to take it off.
"It is wrong, a man like him who has repeatedly, not once or twice, but repeatedly, made homophobic comments should be removed from the list.
"The BBC should reconsider his inclusion."
Fury has denied that he is homophobic, despite having been fined in the past for making offensive remarks about homosexuality.
Cuthbertson's petition was on 2,000 signatures when the BBC released its statement, but now that it has grown to 30,000, he hopes the BBC will change its mind.
"Ideally we want him removed from the shortlist, that's what we're hoping for," he told BuzzFeed News.
"The worst thing that can happen is he's on the stage on the night collecting an award in front of LGBT young people, in Northern Ireland [where the ceremony is held this year] of all places, which has already faced huge battles in the courts – it's the one place in the UK which doesn't have same-sex marriage.
"This is about him being put up as a role model, nothing more. That's all it's about. The BBC can cover his rematch [against Wladimir Klitschko] next year, but they should not be putting him up as a role model."
When contacted by BuzzFeed news, a spokesperson for the BBC confirmed that the Sports Personality of the Year panel will not be meeting to discuss Fury's place on the shortlist.
As it stands, Fury will be invited to attend the Sports Personality of the Year ceremony on 20 December.
CORRECTION
The fighter pictured in the ring with Tyson Fury is Christian Hammer. A previous version of this post misidentified him.