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David Beckham has defended making millions as an ambassador for the Qatar World Cup despite the country\u2019s anti-LGBT laws.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the red carpet for the premiere of his new Netflix documentary Beckham, he said he \u2018knew 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. <\/p>\n
\u2018It was a great tournament, a lot of people were happy there.\u2019<\/p>\n
He went on to claim he \u2018had a lot of conversations with the LBGTQ people, community when I was there, and they said they\u2019ve been treated perfectly fine, they\u2019d enjoyed the games. <\/p>\n
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\u2018They felt it was the safest World Cup they\u2019d 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.\u2019<\/p>\n
He insisted that he and his team \u2018always do our homework on everything\u2019 he is asked to be a part of, and \u2018to be involved in another World Cup for me was important.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019ve 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.\u2019<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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His explanation and claims that gay people felt safe in Qatar has revived the conversation, with one Twitter \u2013 aka X \u2013 user writing: \u2018At the end of the day he\u2019s 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\u2019t have financial upsides they bailed. Says it all.\u2019<\/p>\n
Another snarked it was \u2018amazing what your fake morals allow you to do when a sack full of money is involved, while one blasted him as the \u2018ambassador of Selective Human Rights.\u2019<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
David remained in the ambassadorship and did not respond to Joe\u2019s videos, leading to the comedian shredding what was purported to be \u00a310,000 of his own money.<\/p>\n
It was revealed however, that Joe did give the money to LGBT charities, and what he had shredded instead was David\u2019s iconic gay cover for gay lifestyle magazine Attitude.<\/p>\n
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David did not publicly respond at the time, but a statement was later issued which was read out on Joe\u2019s Got Your Back Christmas special.<\/p>\n
It read: \u2018David 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.<\/p>\n
\u2018Football, the most popular sport globally, has a genuine ability to bring people together and make a real contribution to communities.<\/p>\n
\u2018We 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\u00a0World Cup\u00a0being held in the region.\u2019<\/p>\n
The comment finished: \u2018We hope that these conversations will lead to greater understanding and empathy towards all people and that progress will be achieved.\u2019<\/p>\n