Will David Beckham Be Remembered as Homophobic Hypocrite After Qatar World Cup Deal?
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David Beckham’s status as “gay icon will be shredded” if continues in his role as a Qatar World Cup ambassador says British comedian Joe Lycett.
https://t.co/FqoC3hSFM8 🌈 pic.twitter.com/EPLVNwmnvV
— Joe Lycett (@joelycett) November 13, 2022
In a video he posted on Twitter, Lycett puts the former England captain and Manchester United star in his sights and says that he will 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.
Lycett argues that Beckham, who was the first major soccer star to cater to gay fans, appearing on the cover of Attitude Magazine and speak directly to his gay fans is a hypocrite that now he’s selling out to a government that kills gay people.
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“Homosexuality is illegal, punishable by imprisonment and, if you’re Muslim, possibly even death,” said Lycett in an Instagram post.
Lycett said that Beckham has “always talked about the power of football as a force for good” and encouraged him to use his platform to campaign for LGBTQ rights.
“If you do not, by midday next Sunday [November 20, 2022], I will throw this money into a shredder just before the opening ceremony of the World Cup and stream it live on a website I’ve registered called benderslikebeckham.com.”
Human Rights Watch recently highlighted “arbitrary arrests and ill-treatment” of LGBTQ people in Qatar.
In their November press release they say:
“There are just a few days until the World Cup kickoff, but that’s plenty of time for the Qatari government to end ill-treatment of LGBT people. Qatari authorities should publicly condemn violence against LGBT people and formally recognize that having same-sex sexual attraction is not a mental health condition.”
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The Guardian reported over the weekend that the Qatari government has promised gay Qatari citizens safety from physical torture in exchange for helping the authorities to track down other LGBTQ+ people in the country, a prominent Qatari doctor and gay rights campaigner has told the Guardian. Dr. Nasser Mohamed, who lives in the US but retains contact with hundreds of gay Qataris, said that some secret networks had been compromised after arrests by Qatar’s preventive security department.
“A lot [of gay Qataris] don’t know about each other. And it’s safer that way because when the law enforcement finds one person, they actively try to find their entire network. But some of the people who were captured and physically abused were then recruited as agents.
