Joe Lycett 'shreds' £10k on livestream after David Beckham refuses to end Qatar World Cup deal

Comedian Joe Lycett has appeared to have shred £10,000 of his own money over David Beckham's role as an ambassador for Qatar for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

The Birmingham comedian took to Twitter at the start of the week to give the "gay icon" and former England football captain the ultimatum after he had signed a reported £10 million deal with Qatar.

If Beckham withdraw as an ambassador for the FIFA World Cup, the 34-year-old said he would have donated £10,000 to charities supporting queer people in football - £1,000 for every £1 million Beckham is being paid.

But, the ex-Manchester United star remains as a brand ambassador for the World Cup, and so Lycett shredded the money on a livestream, just before the opening ceremony tonight.

Appearing to stand by his decision, the comedian videoed himself on a Twitch stream wearing a rainbow-layered tulle outfit and placed wads of what appeared to be cash into an industrial shredder, but it was not clear if the banknotes were genuine money.

Lycett later shared a video of the act to his Twitter and wrote "A platform for progress".

It is illegal to shred, destroy or deface money in the UK, however, Lycett said he will come off "more lightly" than if he were to be gay in Doha.

Yesterday, Lycett tweeted a picture showing stacks of money amounting to £10,000 of which he has threatened to shred.

In the video, that has nearly four million views, he said: "This is a message to David Beckham.

"I consider you, along with Kim Woodburn and Monty Don, to be a gay icon."

Beckham was the first premiership footballer to do shoots with gay magazines like Attitude and to speak openly about his gay fans.

Lycett continued: "And you married a spice girl, which is the gayest thing a human being can do.

"But now it's 2022 and you've reportedly signed a £10 million deal with Qatar to be their ambassador during the FIFA World Cup.

"Qatar was voted 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."

He continued: "You've always talked about the power of football as a force for good, which suggests to me that you've never seen West Brom.

"But generally I agree. So with that in mind, I'm giving you a choice.

"If you end your relationship with Qatar, I'll donate this 10 grand of my own money,' he said, sliding the cash in front of him. "That's a grand for every million you're reportedly getting, to charities that support Queer people in football.

"However if you do not, at midday next Sunday 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.

"Not just the money, but your status as a gay icon will be shredded.

"You'll be forcing me to commit a crime.

"The choice is yours. I look forward to hearing from you."