David Beckham finally addresses his controversial World Cup role as Joe Lycett reads out a statement

David Beckham has finally issued a statement to Joe Lycett after the comedian purported to ‘destroy £10,000’ over the footballer’s £10m World Cup deal with Qatar.

Last month, Joe pulled a stunt in which he threatened to destroy £10,000 of his own money unless David Beckham backed out of his deal with World Cup hosts Qatar, where homosexuality remains illegal.

And after repeated attempts by Joe to comment, David’s team has finally addressed the issue, remarking that the athlete sees as “positive that debate on key issues has been stimulated” from the World Cup that is being played. in the country.

Joe read the statement on a special edition of his show Joe Lycett’s Got Your Back, which read in full: “David has been involved in several World Cups and other major international tournaments as a player and as an ambassador and has always believed that the sport it has the power to be a force for good in the world.

“The most popular sport globally, football has a genuine ability to bring people together and make a real contribution to communities.

“We understand that there are entrenched and differing views on engagement in the Middle East, but we see as positive that the debate on the key issues has been directly stimulated by the first World Cup to be held in the region.

“We hope that these conversations will lead to a greater understanding and empathy for all people and that progress will be made.”

After reading the statement on his show, Joe said he wasn’t legally allowed to comment on it.

However, he did read a tweet from a Twitter account that labeled him ‘k**b’ and said his stunt ‘achieved nothing’, the latter to which Joe agreed.

The star appeared dejected as she told the audience: “I didn’t achieve anything, Beckham still hasn’t addressed the issues facing LGBTQ people in Qatar.”

He continued: ‘People say to me ‘why do you care so much?’ and the reason it matters is because if someone like me lived in Qatar, it couldn’t be someone like me.’

Joe then turned to LGBTQ allies, commenting that if someone wants to be an ally, they need to be someone they trust at all times, not just when it’s convenient.

He said: “I want to talk about allies, in particular, companies and celebrities who like to think of themselves as allies to our community, who are happy to put on a rainbow when it doesn’t cost them anything, but look at each other when they It was about the World Cup.

“What I am saying is that we need allies, but allies we can trust to not run away when it seems difficult, or when the first yellow card threatens.

“We need everyone to be our allies and we need them to remember that being an ally is for life, not just for Christmas specials.”

And while he couldn’t directly respond to David’s comment, early in the show, Joe attacked David’s role in Qatar, saying, “I’m angry at your blatant hypocrisy and not being an ally to the LGBTQ community.”

With the sitcom star adding: “We deserve better from our national hero.”

He also called Victoria Beckham’s husband a “disgrace” and said he was “disappointing because he hasn’t changed his mind.”

Throughout the show, Joe recounted his journey to get David to do a U-turn in his role as ambassador, revealing that he hadn’t had any responses to his upcoming money-shredding stunt.

Last month, Lycett released the video that controversially appeared to show him shredding the cash, but later revealed it was a hoax and that he had already donated the money to LGBTQ+ charities.

It comes after Joe recently explained how he pulled off his recent stunt of pretending to destroy £10k for David’s £10m World Cup deal with Qatar.

Speaking on Jeremy Vine on the 5th, the comedian explained that the money he put into the machine was real but collected in a bucket.

There were then two jars that contained the counterfeit money that came out ‘crushed’ on the other side.

He said: ‘There was a lot going on behind the scenes, a lot of stress really. That whole weekend I was so wracked with anxiety and fear because it felt really bad, I was so scared to be doing what I was doing.

Joe added: ‘I knew I needed to do something like this to generate the press and intrigue.

Which is really depressing. You would expect human rights abuses to generate their own intrigue.

Explaining how the machine worked, he said: ‘Actually, if you had put real money into the machine, it wouldn’t have turned out like this.

“Basically, it’s a bit of theatrics, but I wanted it to look as dark and shocking as possible. I think we did it.

Joe said that real money was put in the shredder to make the trick look more realistic instead of fake money, which has different dimensions.

The comedian said: ‘We knew that if we used those [fake money], people would say “oh, that’s fake” immediately. We needed real money to go through the shredder to look legit.

When asked what happened to the £10,000, he said it was returned to the bank because he had already donated the money to charity.

Joe also spoke to global journalists Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel on their podcast, The News Agents earlier this month about the news from Beckham’s people after the stunt.

He explained: “I haven’t heard directly from Beckham, we’ve had some movement with his people.”

Emily, laughing, added, ‘Wait, is that like a court order, a lawsuit, or a friendly hello?’

Joe said: ‘I’d love to get sued for him, what a twist that would be. Basically we have had some contact with them. But legally right now, I’m not sure what I can say.

‘I’m not satisfied with where we need to go, let’s put it that way.’

Emily continued: ‘So do you offer positive moves, money? Or donations? and Joe replied: ‘No. They are not really offering anything. They’re just talking to us a bit.

“I think they’re just trying to really make it go away. Which will affect you eventually and will not affect you in the long run.

Added Jon Sopel: ‘I honestly can’t think of anything that’s been done, in PR or advertising, for ten thousand that has gotten that much attention.

Joe is openly pansexual, which means he is attracted to all genders, and has spoken out about being queer and stood up for LGBTQ+ rights on many occasions.

The World Cup is taking place in Qatar, where homosexuality remains illegal and anyone caught engaging in same-sex sexual activity can be punished with up to seven years in prison.