Joe Lycett has responded to criticism after reports surfaced that he performed in Qatar years before his stunt with David Beckham.
Last month, the comedian threatened to shred £10,000 if the former England captain pulled out of his contract with the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. After Beckham didn't respond, Lycett appeared to destroy the money in a shredder in a live stream before swiftly confirming the money was fake.
Lycett went on to reveal that while the shredded money was fake, he had already donated £10,000 to LGBTQ+ charities, in protest of Qatar’s strict anti-LGBTQ laws. However, it's now resurfaced in the news that Lycett had previously performed in Qatar, Dubai and Abu Dhabi on comedy tours as he faces backlash over 'hypocrisy'.
Recent news articles highlighted excerpts from Lycett's 2016 book Parsnips, Buttered, where he detailed his tour in the Middle East.
In a tweet to Lycett, Piers Morgan wrote: "The problem is you decided to appoint yourself the great outraged halo-clad moralist over Qatar re Beckham & LGBT rights but you were paid to appear there too. Blaming the media for exposing your hypocrisy is a bit pathetic."
In response to the reports, Lycett posted a statement on Twitter, which reads: “Oops! I’ve been caught out by The Sun! I did two gigs in Doha in 2015 and kept it entirely secret by writing about it in my own book and mentioning it in multiple interviews including with the NY Times!
“If you’re interested, I was paid a few hundred quid (not by Qatar but by UK comedy promoters) but it was 2015 and that went a lot further back then. I reckon that if a popular comedian from those days (eg Shane Ritchie) had shredded a few hundred quid to persuade me not to go, it would have made a difference.
“But who can say? I don’t have the perfect hindsight and spotless morality of, to pick a completely random example, The Sun newspaper.”
Beckham recently responded to Lycett’s stunt in a statement, which was shared on his Channel 4 series Got Your Back. “We understand that there are different and strongly held views about engagement in the Middle East but see it as positive that debate about the key issues has been stimulated directly by the first World Cup being held in the region,” Beckham’s statement read.
“We hope that these conversations will lead to greater understanding and empathy towards all people and that progress will be achieved.”
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