Joe Lycett reveals £10,000 he shredded for World Cup stunt was fake

Joe Lycett has put everyone's minds at ease by revealing the £10,000 he shredded for the World Cup 2022 stunt was fake.

The comedian had caused quite the stir after sharing a clip in which he appeared to destroy the large wad of cash as part of a protest.

But those who criticised him may change their minds after seeing his latest update:

As you'll know, this year's World Cup is being held in Qatar, which Lycett said is 'one of the worst places in the world to be gay' as homosexuality is illegal, punishable by imprisonment.

Upon finding out that David Beckham had landed a reported £10 million deal to be an ambassador for this year's football tournament, the comedian gave him an ultimatum.

He called on Beckham as a 'gay icon' to end his relationship with Qatar, promising to donate £10,000 of his own money to charity if the former footballer stopped the promotion.

But if the England star didn't agree? Well, Lycett threatened to shred all of the cash and stream it online under the site benderslikebeckham.com.

He appeared to make good on his promise after not hearing back from Beckham.

Sydney Alford/Alamy Stock Photo

In a viral video posted yesterday (20 November), he was seen destroying the money while dressed in a rather colourful outfit.

It didn't take long for people to start criticising the move, especially since the UK is going through a cost-of-living crisis right now.

Some called on him to donate the cash to charity even if Beckham didn't ditch Qatar.

"Don't shred it, loads of people could benefit from that amount of money," tweeted one fan.

Another commented: "Donate the money to charity. There are so many people in need at the moment. It would be disgusting if you shred that money."

Thankfully, Lycett has since reassured the fans, saying that the money he shredded wasn't real and that he'd 'never be so irresponsible'.

In his 'final message to David Beckham', he said: "When you didn't end your relationship [with the World Cup] or even respond in any way, I streamed myself dropping 10k into a shredder.

"Or did I?"

The comedian continued: "The truth is the money that went into the shredder was real, but the money that came out was fake.

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

Lycett confirmed that the £10,000 had already been donated to LGBTQ+ charities before he'd even sent out the first tweet.

"It was an empty threat designed to get people talking," he said.

"In many ways it was like your deal with Qatar, David – total bulls*** from the start."

Twitter/@joelycett

In a final dig at the footballer, he whipped out Beckham's Attitude cover from June 2002, which was the first cover of a gay magazine featuring a Premier League footballer.

After explaining that Attitude was 'more than happy to oblige', he shredded the magazine - for reals this time.