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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
National
Kieran Isgin

Joe Lycett issues 'final message' to David Beckham after 'shredding' £10k

Joe Lycett has issued a 'final message' to David Beckham after an ongoing feud over his 'relationship' with Qatar.

Last night (November 20) the comedian appeared to shred £10,000 of his own money after previously presenting the ultimatum to the newly appointed Qatar ambassadors. The deadline was set to the former England footballer after it was reported that Beckham had signed a controversial £10 million deal with the Fifa World Cup hosts.

According to Qatar's laws, homosexuality is illegal and anyone found participating in same-sex sexual activity are liable for punishment of up to seven years in prison. As part of Lycett's ultimatum, he offered to donate £10,000 of his own cash to LGBTQ+ charities if Beckham ended the sponsorship before the start of the tournament.

Read more: BBC World Cup pundit Alex Scott praised for One Love armband gesture as she defies FIFA ban

However, Beckham did not end his relationship and so Lycett seemingly shredded the cash on a Twitch stream while wearing a rainbow-layered tulle outfit. However, Lycett has now issued a final video addressing the events and revealing what really happened to the cash.

In the Twitter video which Lycett referred to as his "final message to David Beckham", he said: "I told you I was going to 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?

"I haven't quite told you the whole truth. Because 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 ten grand had already been donated to LGBTQ+ charities before I even pressed send on the initial tweet last week."

Speaking directly to Beckham, Lycett explains that he really never expected to hear from him and cooked up the stunt to "get people talking". He also compared the concept of the stunt to Beckham's relationship with Qatar as being "total b******t from the start".

He concludes the video by shredding an Attitude magazine cover from June 2002 which he highlights is the "first-ever cover of a gay magazine with a Premier League footballer on it". He continued: "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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