James Corden left David Beckham horrified as he pranked him with a fake statue in his honour ahead of the official reveal of his statue at LA Galaxy’s stadium.
The football icon was lost for words when he first saw his immortalised face, telling onlookers he looks like “Stretch Armstrong”.
“It’s slightly different than it was when I saw it in Chicago,” Beckham said as he looked crestfallen.
Behind the scenes, The Late Late Show host was in hysterics as he watched his friend surveying the statue with a massive behind and a shocked looking face.
The fake sculptor told Beckham: “I believe, what I did here was try to capture you in motion.” Beckham replied: “Yeah but there was capturing me in motion but also making me…look at my chin!”
As the former England skipper walked around the statue, he said that it “didn’t really look like him” as he continued to point out faults. However, the star did approve of his hair.
He eventually mustered the courage to confront the would-be-sculptor ahead of the then-upcoming ceremony in his honour, still unaware he was being pranked.
“I don’t want to offend you but this is such a big thing for me,” he said. “It’s taken a year to get to this point.
“There is no way that can go in front of the stadium. It’s embarrassing.”
But the smile was painted back on Beckham’s face when a forklift tore the statue down – with him joking it did him a “favour” – and Corden came bounding out from behind the cameras shouting “oh my god, what’s happened?”.
A hysterical Corden embraced Beckham, who continued to curse at the prank before letting out a relieved “thank god for that”.
The short sketch had been filmed just before a statue in Beckham’s honour was revealed outside the Dignity Health Sports Park in California as the MLS side paid tribute to the athlete.
The Late Late Show airs nightly on CBS in the US.
