Joe Lycett responds to criticism for playing in Qatar before David Beckham stunt

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Joe Lycett released a statement after he resurfaced that he performed in Qatar ahead of his David Beckham money-shredding stunt.

Last month, Lycett threatened to shred 10,000 if Beckham did not back out of his contract as ambassador at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. When the former England footballer failed to respond, Lycett appeared to destroy the money in a subsequent livestream.

The comedian later revealed that the destroyed money was actually fake, with the 10,000 instead donated to LGBTQ+ charities, in protest against Qatar’s strict anti-LGBTQ laws, before offering the ultimatum .

A recent report highlighted quotes from Lycetts 2016 book Parsnips, Buttered, where he recalled playing shows in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar, with some calling his Beckham stunt in hindsight hypocritical. The comedian, however, recently opened up about his visit to Qatar in an interview with The New York Times.

In response to the reports, Lycett released a statement on Twitter (December 21), which read: Oops! I was surprised by The Sun! I did two concerts in Doha in 2015 and kept it a secret by writing about it in my own book and mentioning it in multiple interviews, including with the NY Times!

A statement from mom pic.twitter.com/4IQ1wDPe1L

— Joe Lycett (@joelycett) December 21, 2022

If you’re interested, I got paid a few hundred pounds (not by Qatar but by UK comedy promoters) but that was 2015 and it went a lot further back then. I think if a popular comedian at the time (eg Shane Ritchie) had shredded a few hundred books to persuade me not to go, it would have made a difference.

But who can say? I don’t have the perfect hindsight and spotless morality of, to take a completely random example, The Sun newspaper.

Beckham recently responded to Lycetts’ stunt in a statement, which was shared on the comedian series Got Your Back on Channel 4.

We understand that there are different and entrenched views on engagement in the Middle East, but we consider it positive that the debate on key issues has been stimulated directly by the first World Cup staged in the region, Beckham’s statement said.

We hope that these conversations will lead to greater understanding and empathy for all people and that progress will be made.

Lycett initially criticized Beckham’s role as ambassador for the World Cup, a deal worth 10 million, due to Qatar’s criminalization of homosexuality and the country’s human rights record of man.

During the video where Lycett revealed the shredded money was fake, the comedian shredded the cover of Beckhams Attitude magazine from June 2002, which was the first gay magazine cover to feature a Premier League footballer.

I asked Attitude if I could shred it and they were more than happy to oblige, Lycett said.

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