Joe Lycett has shared a picture of the shredder he claims he will use to destroy £10,000 if David Beckham doesn’t respond to his ultimatum over the World Cup.
Last week, the comedian released a video on social media directly addressing Beckham over his deal promoting the World Cup in Qatar.
In the video, Lycett said that he would give £10,000 to charities that support gay people in football if Beckham pulls out of his reported £10 million deal due to the country’s stance on LGBT+ issues.
If Beckham does not do so, Lycett said he will shred the £10,000 and live stream it on Sunday (20 November) at midday on the website BendersLikeBeckham.com.
While the footballer said this week that the 2022 World Cup would be a “platform for progress”, he has not spoken out on Lycett’s comments.
On Friday (18 November), Lycett ramped up the pressure as he posted a picture to Instagram of the large shredder he would be using.
“48 hours to go [money emoji],” Lycett wrote, adding the hashtag: “#benderslikebeckham.”
He also tagged Beckham in the picture.
In his first video, Lycett called on Beckham to stand up for the LGBT+ community, branding him a “gay icon” and ally while joking that he’d married a Spice Girl “which is the gayest thing a human being can do”.
“Qatar was voted as one of the worst places in the world to be gay,” Lycett said. “Homosexuality is illegal, punishable by imprisonment and, if you’re Muslim, possibly even death.”
On Wednesday (16 November), having heard nothing from Beckham, the comedian shared an email he’d sent to the sports star’s publicist in which he admitted he was in “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 Quatar, or donate cash to LGBT+ charities if he does, yet we’re now four days out and I haven’t heard a peep from him,” he wrote.
“Could you do me a solid and let me know if there’s any chance he might budge on his position, or am I to expect radio silence on this? I really don’t want to shred 10 grand!!!”
