Comedian Joe Lycett 'shreds' $17,000 in protest against David Beckham's Qatar World Cup partnership

Last week, the English comedian publicly urged Beckham to end his promotional partnership with the country over its treatment of LGBTIQ+ people.

Comedian Joe Lycett (left) publicly challenged David Beckham (right) to end his promotional deal with Qatar, and appears to have shredded $17,000 in cash after the deadline for his challenge passed. Source: Getty

Key Points

• Last week, Joe Lycett said he would shred $17,000 if David Beckham did not pull out of a World Cup promotional deal.
• He urged Beckham to end the partnership due to Qatar's treatment of the LGBTIQ+ community.
• On Sunday, the comedian posted a video to Twitter where he appeared to drop two large piles of cash into a shredder.

Comedian Joe Lycett has revealed he did not really shred £10,000 ($17,800) cash in a live video on Twitter in protest to "gay icon" David Beckham's promotional partnership with Qatar.

On Sunday night, he posted a video to Twitter in which he did not speak, but simply walked up to a shredder and appeared to drop in two large piles of cash.

It came after Lycett publicly challenged the former England captain to end a multimillion-pound promotional deal with Qatar over the country's treatment of the LGBTIQ+ community.

He gave Beckham a deadline of Sunday, after which he said he would shred £10,000 of his own cash.

The deadline passed with no response from Beckham.

After posting the stunt, Lycett shared a final video on Monday, confirming the money he dropped into the shredder had not really been destroyed.

"I would never destroy real money, I would never be so irresponsible," he said.

"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 the original video, Lycett described Beckham as a "gay icon", and referenced his historic support of the LGBTIQ+ community.

"You were the first premiership footballer to do shoots with gay magazines like Attitude, to speak openly about your gay fans, and you married a Spice Girl, which is the gayest thing a human being can do," he said.

"Qatar was voted as one of the worst places in the world to be gay; homosexuality is illegal punishable by imprisonment and, if you're Muslim, possibly even death."

Beckham is yet to respond publicly to Lycett's challenge.

What is Qatar's record with the LGBTIQ+ community?

In the leadup to the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Qatar's treatment of the LGBTIQ+ community has come under the spotlight.

Homosexual activity is a criminal offence in Qatar and can be punishable with a jail sentence.

According to LGBTIQ+ rights advocacy organisation Human Dignity Trust, Qatar also operates an interpretation of Sharia law "in which it is technically possible for men who engage in same-sex intimacy to be sentenced to death".

Earlier this year, a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report included distressing accounts from six LGBTIQ+ community members, who allege they were arrested, bashed, and kept in solitary confinement due to their sexuality or expressed gender.

The organising committee for this year's FIFA World Cup in Qatar has told SBS News LGBTIQ+ fans won't face any discrimination during the tournament.