British heavyweight boxer Tyson Fury on Monday apologized for an anti-Semitic rant he posted online last week.
Fury, 27, wrote last week, "Everyone just do what you can, listen to the government follow everybody like sheep, be brainwashed by all the Zionist, Jewish people who own all the banks, all the papers all the TV stations. Be brainwashed by them all."
He also launched into a tirade against transsexuals, and claimed bestiality would be "perfectly normal" within the next decade.
The comments were condemned by the Campaign Against Antisemitism, which called on him to be barred from boxing.
“Tyson Fury’s statements about Jewish people are offensive and racist," Jonathan Sacerdoti, Director of Communications at the Campaign Against Antisemitism, said Friday, adding, "There should be no place for antisemitism in sport. Just as antisemitism is being stamped out from football, the same should apply to boxing."
On Monday, Fury issued a statement apologizing for the remarks and said, "I am in no way a racist or bigot."
"I apologize to anyone who may have taken offence at any of my comments," he said, according to the Daily Mail. "I said some things, which may have hurt some people, which as a Christian man is not something I would ever want to do.
"Though it is not an excuse, sometimes the heightened media scrutiny has caused me to act out in public. I mean no harm or disrespect to anyone and I know more is expected of me as an ambassador of British boxing and I promise in future to hold myself up to the highest possible standard,” he continued.
"Anyone who knows me personally knows that I am in no way a racist or bigot and I hope the public accept this apology," stated Fury.