Photos have emerged showing Joe Lycett performing in Qatar and the Middle East despite his recent campaign against David Beckham for supporting the World Cup in Qatar.
Mr Lycett is facing a hypocrisy storm after he played a number of shows in the country which he later called Beckham a ‘disgrace’ for promoting.
The comedian hit out at Beckham for failing to mention Qatar’s anti-LGBTQ laws and human rights abuses, before threatening to shred £10,000 of his own money if Beckham did not stop the publicity campaign.
He posted a video of himself ‘shredding’ the cash on social media, but later revealed that he had not actually destroyed any money and had instead donated the £10,000 to LGBTQ charities.
However, Lycett himself played at several money spinning gigs in January 2015, performing two shows in the Qatari capital of Doha.
Comedian Joe Lycett poses for a photo with fans after a show in Qatar in January 2015. Years later he criticised David Beckham for promoting the country
This promotional poster shows Lycett was advertised to play a number of dates in the Middle East
He played the dates as part of a tour of the country and the United Arab Emirates with The Foster’s Laughter Factory, accompanying fellow comedians Gordon Southern and Ben Norris.
In his 2017 autobiography ‘Parsnips, Buttered’, the comedian said he had played gigs in the Middle East while joking about their anti-LGBTQ laws.
Mr Lycett said: ‘I was performing stand-up in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar. Friends of mine had warned me about travelling to these countries, claiming that ‘they don’t like’, as one friend put it, ‘your lot’.
‘The punishment for homosexuality in these countries is oft jail, the logic of which I’ve never understood. “Oh, you like men? We’ll put you in a box with some.” Not exactly a punishment, lads!’
Lycett posted a video of him ‘shredding’ £10,000, which was later revealed to be fake, in response to David Beckham’s promotion of Qatar
Joe Lycett (right) was seen pictured alongside fellow comedians Gordon Southern (centre) and Ben Norris (left) at a gig in Qatar in January 2015
A number of fans responded to Mr Lycett’s criticism of Beckham and the Qatari regime by accusing him of hypocrisy.
One said: ‘I don’t understand why you are so angry as I remember seeing you perform here in Qatar at the Radisson Blue at the Laughter Factory!
‘You didn’t seem to have a problem taking Qatari money that night?’
Another said: ‘Many people sharing Joe Lycett’s publicity stunt shaming David Beckham. In 2015 he performed stand-up in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar. By all means feel free to criticise David Beckham, but don’t be a hypocrite about it.
One Twitter user said: ‘Turns out you are a massive hypocrite who has taken Qatar coin too. Disappointing’.
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Another added: ‘So it turns out Gary Lineker got paid from Qatar state broadcaster, Joe Lycett performed in Qatar and Gary Neville pays staff £18.5k a year. They all make valid points but this is virtue signalling on overload.’
Twitter users accused Lycett of hypocrisy after learning about his previous gigs in Qatar
In a live stream last month Lycett said at the time of his gigs he ‘didn’t know the [human] rights at that point’, but that he knew he ‘probably wasn’t meant to be there’.
In the stream on November 13 he added: ‘I’ve been to Dubai, I’ve been to these places, but if you’re in a position like Beckham’s in, then you’ve got that power and FIFA has this power.’
Comedian Lycett told Richard Herring in a podcast that he has spent a year leading up to the money-burning stunt trying to decide what he might be able to do to make an impact.
He said that he had considered protesting in Qatar, as campaigner Peter Tatchell did last month, but decided against.
Lycett said: ‘Qatar don’t give a s*** about me, if I was in the country, they’d probably tell me off and deport me if I did anything.
‘At one point there was an idea of me doing a Pride march there and really ruffle their feathers and I was up for it but it became clear then probably wouldn’t jail me because they’re trying to keep their image relatively clean but what they do is make an example of any local that helped me.
Lycett , pictured here on his Channel 4 show, said he played a number of shows in the Middle East in his 2017 autobiography
David Beckham was criticised by Lycett for fronting a multi-million pound publicity campaign for Qatar. Pictured: Beckham at the World Cup quarter final match between England and France in Qatar
‘I just wouldn’t be able to live with myself if someone was jailed or killed as a result of a stunt I’d done, so it forced me to think a little bit more laterally of how of you get at them.’
He said: ‘I consider Beckham to be a gay icon, before anyone else he did a shoot with Attitude magazines, a cover shoot, which no footballer was doing ..but now he’s taking an alleged ten million, I gather it’s a lot more, to promote Qatar. It’s illegal to be gay there and the ultimate penalty there is death.
‘It’s incredibly dangerous to be gay there. So him, with his influence and the history’s he has to say, come to Qatar, it’s wonderful, it’s brilliant, how f***ing dare he, how dare he do that? When he has profited of the back of the gay community.’
He added: ‘I think there’s good in him, I think he knows what the right and wrong way to behave… I think I can change his mind, I think there’s a low chance but I think he might do the right thing.
‘And even if he just makes a nod to saying something about the rights… he’s not done any of that, he’s not said anything publicly about it, that will have an effect, cos he’s so influential. The most power I’ve got is to go though his power.’
Mr Lycett’s representatives were contacted for comment.
