'I haven't quite told you the whole truth'
Joe Lycett has admitted that his World Cup money shredding stunt was exactly that.
A stunt.
The money was fake.
The comedian had promised to destroy the money unless David Beckham stepped away from a reported £10m deal with the Qatar football tournament.
The country is, as Lycett has noted, "one of the worst places in the world to be gay" since homosexuality is illegal punishable by imprisonment.
https://twitter.com/joelycett/status/1594657948525289473
Lycett had called on Beckham as a "gay icon" to "end your relationship with Qatar", promising to donate £10,000 of his own money to charity if the former footballer stopped promoting the World Cup.
But in a viral video on Sunday, he appeared to shred the money after not hearing back from the football player.
https://twitter.com/joelycett/status/1594302742847426562
Social media users were aghast that the comedian was choosing to destroy to much money while the UK is in the grip of a cost-of-living crisis, with people urging him not to go through with the stunt, and to donate the money to charity instead.
"Don't shred it, loads of people could benefit from that amount of money," tweeted one fan.
Another commented: "Donate the money to charity. There are so many people in need at the moment. It would be disgusting if you shred that money."
In a follow-up post on Monday, Lycett said: “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 we?”
Explaining how he’d streamed himself dropping the money into a shredder, Lycett added: “Or did I? I haven’t quite told you the whole truth.”
Lycett then explained that, while the cash he threw into the shredder was legit, what came out wasn't: “I would never destroy real money. I would never be so irresponsible."
He went on to say that he had already donated £10k to LGBT+ charities before he sent his first tweet to Beckham.
“I never expected to hear from you. It was an empty threat designed to get people talking,” Lycett explained.
“In many ways, it was like your deal with Qatar, David. Total bulls*** from the start. I’m not even queer! Only joking.”
Lycett then pulled out of a copy of Beckham’s 2002 Attitude cover, which was the first ever cover of a gay magazine with a Premier League footballer on it.
And, in a fitting gesture, he shredded the cover.
Lycett added that he had asked Attitude for permission and they were “more than happy to oblige”.
He ended the video by saying: “Gosh, it’s all been quite a lot this, hasn’t it? I’m off down the gay village to have a few pints."
