David Beckham has defended making millions as an ambassador for the Qatar World Cup despite the country’s anti-LGBT laws.
The former England star was mired in controversy last year when he took on the ambassadorship for Qatar, whose laws ban same-sex relationships under threat of imprisonment or even the death penalty.
Now David has defended the position, and claims he was told by members of the LGBTQ community that they felt safer in Qatar than they did at any other World Cup.
Speaking at the red carpet for the premiere of his new Netflix documentary Beckham, he said he ‘knew there was going to be people who were going to either talk about it a little bit more or let the football do the talking.
‘It was a great tournament, a lot of people were happy there.’
He went on to claim he ‘had a lot of conversations with the LBGTQ people, community when I was there, and they said they’ve been treated perfectly fine, they’d enjoyed the games.
‘They felt it was the safest World Cup they’d had for a long time. So no, at the end of the day it was an important competition and one I was proud to be part of.’
He insisted that he and his team ‘always do our homework on everything’ he is asked to be a part of, and ‘to be involved in another World Cup for me was important.’
‘I’ve always said football is a game that should be shared around the world. This was an opportunity for the Arab world to get a World Cup, to hold one of if not the biggest sporting events in the world.’
David suffered backlash for the deal with Qatar after he had been regarded as a gay icon and ally for showing support to the community for decades.
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His explanation and claims that gay people felt safe in Qatar has revived the conversation, with one Twitter – aka X – user writing: ‘At the end of the day he’s profited off the gay community for years, many football clubs regularly sell pride kits support pride etc. yet when the time came to actually show support that didn’t have financial upsides they bailed. Says it all.’
Another snarked it was ‘amazing what your fake morals allow you to do when a sack full of money is involved, while one blasted him as the ‘ambassador of Selective Human Rights.’
Things came to a head in December last year when comedian Joe Lycett had threatened to shred money if David did not pull out of his ambassadorship role; if he did pull out, the money would go to charity.
David remained in the ambassadorship and did not respond to Joe’s videos, leading to the comedian shredding what was purported to be £10,000 of his own money.
It was revealed however, that Joe did give the money to LGBT charities, and what he had shredded instead was David’s iconic gay cover for gay lifestyle magazine Attitude.
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David did not publicly respond at the time, but a statement was later issued which was read out on Joe’s Got Your Back Christmas special.
It read: ‘David has been involved in a number of World Cups and other major international tournaments both as a player and an ambassador and he has always believed that sport has the power to be a force for good in the world.
‘Football, the most popular sport globally, has a genuine ability to bring people together and make a real contribution to communities.
‘We understand that there are different and strongly held views about engagement in the Middle East but see it as a positive that debate about the key issues has been stimulated directly by the first World Cup being held in the region.’
The comment finished: ‘We hope that these conversations will lead to greater understanding and empathy towards all people and that progress will be achieved.’
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