‘Not what happened’ - Joe Lycett reacts to Keir Starmer’s comments on Beckham stunt

Joe Lycett has corrected Keir Starmer after the Labour leader mentioned his David Beckham money shredding stunt during the Prime Minister’s questions on Wednesday (23 November).

The Brummie comedian shared a video on social media admitting that he did not shred £10,000, but instead donated the money to LGBTQ+ charities following his ultimatum to former footballer David Beckham. Lycett had previously posted on social media saying he would shred the money if Beckham didn’t back down as an ambassador for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

David Beckham had come under fire as he had signed a deal reportedly worth £10 million with Qatar to be the ambassador for the controversial World Cup. Qatar has been ranked as one of the worst countries in the world for LGBTQ+ rights, and Beckham has on previous occasions been viewed as an ally of the movement.

As the deadline for Lycett’s ultimatum passed, the Birmingham comedian posted a video on social media of him, dressed in a rainbow tulle jacket, throwing two piles of money into a shredder, before walking off set. The video has caused controversy, as fans said it was disrespectful to shred that amount of money while many people around the country are struggling to pay their bills.

On Monday, however, Lycett posted yet another video, admitting that the money coming out of the shredder was indeed fake, Joe continues the video saying that the money had already been donated to LBGTQ+ charities before he had even posted the initial tweet telling Beckham of the ultimatum.

Starmer mentions stunt in PMQs

The Labour leader mentioned Lycett’s stunt during the PMQs, but appeared to have no idea that Lycett didn’t in fact shred the money and the whole thing was fake. He also suggested that it was a protest against QatarEnergy.

He said: “You may have seen this week that somebody shredded £10,000 in protest at those propping up an oil and gas giant.

“But he shreds £10,000 every other minute propping them up,” he said while pointing to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

“Which does he think is the more absurd?”

Lycett seemed just as confused as everybody else, and commented on the video on Twitter, saying: “Not quite what happened but fair play @Keir_Starmer.”