Comedian Joe Lycett has set the record straight about whether he shredded £10,000 of real money in a stunt criticising David Beckham’s involvement in the Qatar World Cup.
Lycett said real money was placed into the shredder, but only fake money came out.
“I would never destroy real money. I would never be so irresponsible,” he told fans in a video posted to Twitter on Monday.
Lycett had called on Beckham to end his relationship with Qatar before the start of the World Cup - and then Lycett would donate £10,000 to LGBTQ+ charities - otherwise he would shred that exact amount of money.
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.
Beckham is rumoured to have accepted a £10 million deal to be an ambassador for the World Cup.
With no response from the star, Lycett then shared a video of him placing wads of cash into a red shredder on Sunday.
“I haven’t quite told you the whole truth,” Lycett said in a new video on Monday.
“Because the truth is, the money that went into the shredder was real, but the money that came out was fake.”
“A platform for progress” pic.twitter.com/EeMelv01nu
— Joe Lycett (@joelycett) November 20, 2022
The comedian confirmed he had in fact donated the ten grand to LGBTQ+ charities.
He then addressed Beckham directly: “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 bullshit from the start.”
He then began to shred Beckham’s June 2002 cover of Attitude - the first ever cover of a gay magazine with a Premier League footballer on it.
He ended the video by saying: “I’m off down the gay village to have a few pints.”
