Joe Lycett has unveiled the massive shredder he’ll use to destroy £10,000 in protest of David Beckham’s participation in the Qatar World Cup.
The 2022 World Cup runs from November 20 – December 18 in and around the capital city of Doha, and is being held amid ongoing criticism regarding the death of migrant workers in the creation of stadiums and the country’s views on homosexuality, which is illegal in Qatar.
Last week (November 13), Lycett criticised Beckham’s role as a tournament ambassador, which has reportedly netted him £10million. In a video message, the comedian offered to donate £10,000 of his own money to queer charities if Beckham ended the sponsorship before the tournament started. If not, it would be shredded on the opening day of the tournament.
Ahead of the start of the tournament tomorrow (November 20), Lycett shared a photo of the huge shredder on Twitter, counting down the final 48 hours where Beckham can agree to the request.
See the post below.
48 hours to go
https://t.co/AxkwFBbvi2 pic.twitter.com/FmsBuADSI2 — Joe Lycett (@joelycett) November 18, 2022
After the request was made by Lycett, many responded to the video to urge him to rethink the shredding. “Please don’t shred the money. That’s a lifeline to a small charity,” one person tweeted.
Another person wrote: “Could you include a clause that the £10k could actually go to a cause instead of being wasted? Loads available. Or maybe to Beckham’s pet hate. But not totally wasted.”
“For the love of Christ, Joe, do not ACTUALLY waste that literally life-changing amount of money for the sake of naming and shaming a celebrity footballer,” a third person added.
“That would be genuinely obscene, & not remotely constructive. You’re going to use it for good instead, right?”
Elsewhere, England manager Gareth Southgate has said that his players will speak out about human rights abuses in the host nation during the tournament.
Speaking after announcing his 26-man squad for the tournament, which sees England facing Iran for their first match on Monday, November 21, Southgate insisted his team will be open about issues surrounding the location of the World Cup.
“We have always spoken about issues we think should be talked about, particularly the ones we feel we can affect,” he told the media.
In the run-up to the tournament beginning, Dua Lipa also denied rumours that she was to perform at the opening ceremony and called on Qatar to “fulfil all the human rights pledges it made when it won the right to host the World Cup,” while Rod Stewart revealed that he also turned down the opportunity to be a part of the celebrations for moral reasons.
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