Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby appeared to defend Joe Lycett after he came under fire from their This Morning co-star. The hosting duo were back at the helm of the ITV news programme on Monday (November 21) and kicked off the show by discussing the latest news headlines.
They were joined on the famous sofa by Vanessa Feltz and Tom Swarbrick for the latest 'This Morning's View' segment which started with talk around the World Cup which officially kicked off on Sunday (November 20) with England taking to the pitch for the first time on Monday afternoon as the begin the 2022 campaign against Iran.
Among the topics, the four-piece delved into was that of comedian Joe who 'shredded' £10,000 after giving David Beckham an ultimatum over his role in Qatar. Joe wanted to the former Manchester United and England star to pull out of his role as a Qatar ambassador or he would destroy the cash.
READ MORE: Phillip Schofield tries to end ITV This Morning just minutes in after disappointing start
The comic set David a deadline of midday on November 20 to take action after it was reported he had signed a controversial £10 million deal with the Fifa World Cup hosts. He offered to donate £10,000 of his own money to LGBTQ+ charities if David ended the sponsorship before the tournament started, and if not he said he would livestream himself shredding the money along with the former footballer's "status as gay icon".
After not hearing from David, Joe stayed true to his word and on Sunday, he appeared a Twitch stream wearing a rainbow-layered tulle outfit and placed wads of what appeared to be cash into an industrial shredder, but it was not clear if the banknotes were genuine money. He later shared a video of the act to his Twitter and wrote: "A platform for progress".
He has since confirmed that the £10,000 he supposedly shredded was actually fake. Confirming the hoax, Lycett said in a new video on Monday: "This is my final message to David Beckham, it’s me, that prick who shredded loads of money in a cost of living crisis. So, where were we? I told you I was gonna destroy £10,000 if you didn’t end your relationship with Qatar before the first day of the world cup, and then when you didn’t end your relationship or even respond in any way, I streamed myself dropping 10k into a shredder, or did I?’
He continued: "I haven’t quite told you the whole truth – the truth is the money that went into the shredder was real, but the money that came out was fake. I would never destroy real money. I would never be so irresponsible, in fact, the 10 grand had already been donated to LGBTQ+ charities 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 bulls**t from the start."
Prior to Joe's admission, Vanessa shared her anger on This Morning about the cash being supposedly shredded. She branded it "disappointing" and a "waste". She went on: "Couldn't he have thought of something else to do with the money?
"I would have preferred he just went to the local bus stop and gave it out to people in the street rather than destroy that money. It can make such a difference. Why would he destroy it? I'm really disappointed in this. It's such a waste."
But Phillip said: "Would he have got the same amount of publicity [by giving the money to a charity]? Are we making Joe a villain here for taking a stand against Qatar's regime?" Holly also commented: "He was trying to the right thing, wasn't he? It has a good intention behind it."
Vanessa also later added: "I love him, I love the stand. He's a great guy. I really admire him but I just wish the twist wasn't 'destroy the money'. I wish it was 'give it to someone who needs it.'"
And as mentioned, Joe has now confirmed he has. Joe ended the video which confirmed his hoax. "I’m not even queer! Only joking. There is one thing I’ll shred – this is your Attitude magazine cover from June 2002, the first-ever cover of a gay mag with a Premier league footballer on it.
"I asked Attitude if I could shred it, and they were more than happy to oblige. Gosh, it’s all been quite a lot this hasn’t it? Right, I’m off down the gay village to have a few pints."
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