UK comedian shreds thousands in protest of David Beckham’s Qatar deal
<p dir="ltr">English comedian Joe Lycett has called out footballer David Beckham for his multi-million-dollar deal with Qatar by shredding £10,000 - but Lycett’s protest has come with a twist.</p>
<p dir="ltr">After Beckham came under fire for accepting the cash from Qatar - where homosexuality is illegal and you can be jailed or put to death as punishment - to promote the World Cup, Lycett took to social media to call on the former English captain to put his money where his mouth is.</p>
<p><span id="docs-internal-guid-b0f7f24c-7fff-e87b-cd94-977224136cd7"></span></p>
<p dir="ltr">Lycett shared a video where he said he would donate £10,000 ($AU 17,700 or $NZ 19,386) if Beckham withdrew from his deal with Qatar before the World Cup started on November 19.</p>
<p dir="ltr">If Beckham didn’t, Lycett said he would shred it.</p>
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<p dir="ltr">"This is a message to David Beckham... I consider you to be a gay icon," Lycett said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"You were the first premiership footballer to do shoots with gay magazines like Attitude, to speak openly about your gay fans, and you married a Spice Girl, which is the gayest thing a human being can do.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Qatar was voted as one of the worst places in the world to be gay. You've always talked about the power of football to be a force for good... so with that in mind, I'm giving you a choice.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"If you end your relationship with Qatar, I'll donate this 10 grand of my own money to charities that support queer people in football. However, if you do not... I will throw this money into a shredder.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Not just the money, but also your status as a gay icon will be shredded."</p>
<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-735f7414-7fff-0c3f-b123-4b37c34f34e3"></span></p>
<p dir="ltr">After his video went viral, Lycett shared a message he sent to Beckham’s PR team on social media.</p>
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<p dir="ltr">“I’ve managed to get myself into a bit of a pickle - I’ve been a bit daft and publicly announced that I’m going to shred £10K on Sunday if David doesn’t end his relationship with Qatar, or donate the cash to LGBTQ+ charities if he does, yet we’re now four days out and I haven’t heard a peep from him,” he wrote.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“Could you do me a solid and let me know if there’s a chance he might budge on his position, or am I to expect radio silence on this? I really don’t want to shred ten grand!!! I also really don’t want a national treasure that has historically supported the LGBTQ+ community to publicly endorse and advertise a nation state that has an appalling human rights record and has the death penalty for gays - call me old fashioned!!!!!!”</p>
<p dir="ltr">With Beckham not responding or backing out of the deal with Qatar, Lycett shared a clip on Sunday of himself putting wads into a woodchipper, dressed in a rainbow coat.</p>
<p dir="ltr">But that isn’t the end of the story.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The comedian shared another video on Monday, where he revealed that the stunt wasn’t what it appeared to be.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“This is my final message to David Beckham,” he began the clip.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“It’s me! That prick who shredded loads of money in a cost-of-living crisis.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“I told you I was going to destroy £10,000 if you didn’t end your relationship with Qatar before the first day of the World Cup. And then when you didn’t end your relationship or even respond in any way, I streamed myself dropping 10K into a shredder.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“Or did I?</p>
<p dir="ltr">“I haven’t quite told you the whole truth. </p>
<p dir="ltr">“Because the truth is, the money that went into the shredder was real, but the money that came out was fake.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">Lycett added that he wouldn’t be “so irresponsible” to destroy “real money”.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“In fact, the ten grand had already been donated to LGBTQ+ charities before I even pressed send on the initial tweet last week,” he continued.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“I never expected to hear from you. It was an empty threat designed to get people talking.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-0189d111-7fff-2b5e-96d4-872ebc0b31b0"></span></p>
<p dir="ltr">“In many ways, it was like your deal with Qatar, David. Total bulls**t from the start.”</p>
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<p dir="ltr">Lycett ended the clip by shredding another item: the 2002 cover of <em>Attitude </em>magazine that featured Beckham, which was the first gay magazine to feature a Premier League footballer on it.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“I asked <em>Attitude </em>if I could shred it and they were more than happy to oblige,” Lycett said, before running the cover through a paper shredder.</p>
<p dir="ltr">His final video, captioned with a single rainbow flag, received a flood of praise from fellow celebrities and fans.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“Oh you. It’s like you thought it all through or somethin …” Dawn French commented.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“You are flipping amazing ❤️❤️❤️🏳️🌈🏳️🌈,” singer Sophie Ellis Bexter added.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-d1dc9455-7fff-40cd-4ae9-c47bf33ab5ef"></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><em>Images: Instagram</em></p>
