[imagesource: Jürgen Raible / AKG Images / NTB scanpix]

They say everybody has their price and that appears to be true for David Beckham.

Over the years, the former Manchester United and England footballer and current husband to Posh Spice has repeatedly championed gay rights.

In 2002, he became the first heterosexual footballer to appear on the front cover of a gay publication when his face was splashed across Attitude Magazine and has regularly spoken about being “honoured to have the tag of ‘gay icon’” amidst his ongoing ambition to score a knighthood.

Why, then, has he decided to accept a role as a Qatar World Cup ambassador? In a nutshell, numerous outlets have reported he pocketed more than £10 million to act as an ambassador.

Others say the amount is actually as high as £150 million, which might explain videos like this:

He can be heard saying that in Qatar, “the modern and traditional fuse to create something really special” and speaks of his desire to bring his children to visit.

The elephant in the room, of course, is Qatar’s laws regarding homosexuality. CNN below:

Under Qatari law, homosexuality is illegal and punishable by up to three years in prison…

Human Rights Watch [HRW] has also recently highlighted “arbitrary arrests and ill-treatment” of LGBTQ people in Qatar…

“Qatari authorities should publicly condemn violence against LGBT people and formally recognize that having same-sex sexual attraction is not a mental health condition.”

Just last week, former Qatar international footballer and ambassador for the tournament, Khalid Salman, described homosexuality as “damage in the mind”.

Beckham can’t have it both ways and he’s now been publicly called out by British comedian Joe Lycett:

Lycett, a British comedian who describes himself as queer on his website, said he would donate £10,000 ($11,000) to charities supporting “queer people in football” or put the money through the shredder along with “Beckham’s reputation as a gay icon” if the former footballer did not cut ties with Qatar…

The video, released on Sunday, has already exceeded three million views:

https://t.co/FqoC3hSFM8 🌈 pic.twitter.com/EPLVNwmnvV

— Joe Lycett (@joelycett) November 13, 2022

Head to that website and you’ll find a live countdown to the money being shredded.

I think Lycett has painted himself into a bit of a corner here because shredding £10 000 when Britain is in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis will only reflect poorly on him,

The point regarding Beckham stands, though – he can’t claim to have the interests of LGBTQ people at heart and also take money to promote and praise a country that doesn’t afford those same people the most basic of human rights.

He’s well within his rights to take the massive payday and sing Qatar’s praises from the rooftop. I do wonder what Elton John, the godfather to two of Beckham’s children, has said to him about all of this.

[source:cnn]