COMEDIAN JOE Lycett has clarified that he did not, in fact, shred £10,000 in protest at David Beckham's World Cup Qatar deal, and has already donated the money to an LGBTQ+ charity.
Lycett had set the former England footballer a deadline of midday yesterday, 20 November, to take action after it was reported Mr Beckham had signed a controversial £10 million deal with the Fifa World Cup hosts.
Mr Lycett offered to donate £10,000 of his own money to LGBTQ+ charities if Mr Beckham ended the sponsorship before the tournament started and, if not, he said he would livestream himself shredding the money.
He live-streamed himself apparently shredding the money yesterday after Beckham did not end his deal or even respond to Lycett.
🏳️🌈 pic.twitter.com/YuPYSQ2M6u
— Joe Lycett (@joelycett) November 21, 2022
In an updated video, Lycett said he hadn't "quite told you the whole truth."
"The truth is the one that went into the shredder was real, but the money that came out was fake," he said.
"I would never destroy real money. I would never be so irresponsible.
"In fact, the ten grand had already been donated to LGBTQ+ charities before I even pressed send on the initial tweet last week.
"I never expected to hear from you. It was an empty threat designed to get people talking.
"In many ways it was like your deal with Qatar David. Total bulls*** from the start."
Lycett then went on to shred a cover of Attitude magazine from 2002 which featured David Beckham.
The cover was the first time for a Premier League football player to appear on the cover of a gay magazine.
"I asked Attitude if I could shred it and they were more than happy to oblige," Lycett said.
In Qatar homosexuality is still illegal and anyone found participating in same-sex sexual activity can be punished with up to seven years in prison.
