Tyson Fury Investigated for Hate Crime: Latest Details and Comments

British authorities are investigating heavyweight champion Tyson Fury for a reported hate crime after public comments he made regarding homosexuality, per the Associated Press (via ESPN.com).  

On Nov. 7, Fury spoke about his views on a variety of religious and societal topics with Nick Craven of the Mail on Sunday:

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There are only three things 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 is paedophilia. Who would have thought in the 50s and 60s that those first two would be legalised? When I say paedophiles could be made legal, it sounds crazy. But if I had said to you about the first two being made legal in the 50s, I would have been looked upon as a crazy man.

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"Greater Manchester Police take every allegation of hate crime extremely seriously, and we will be attending the victim's address to take a statement in due course," the department said in a statement, per the AP report.

The outcry in Great Britain was swift following the interview, and Fury's victory over Wladimir Klitschko on Nov. 28 only increased the attention drawn to his stance. A petition was also started to have Fury eliminated from the shortlist for the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year award, which the BBC declined to do.

In March 2013, the Boxing Board of Control fined Fury £3,000 after he called fellow boxers David Price and Tony Bellew "gay lovers," in addition to insulting members of their families.

"Let's not try and make me out to be some evil person and I hate gays because I don't hate anybody," Fury said in an interview on BBC Radio 2 with Jeremy Vine on Dec. 7 (via BBC News). "I can actually say I don't hate anybody."