Gary Lineker and Alex Scott accused of ‘hypocrisy’ over Qatar World Cup 2022

Viewers of the first World Cup match have accused the BBC of brazen ‘hypocrisy’ and ‘virtue signalling’ as pundits launched into a segment about controversies and human rights issue in Qatar, while broadcasting live from a stadium in Doha.

Gary Lineker’s opening monologue for BBC‘s introduction to the World Cup addressed the human rights record in Qatar immediately. The controversial competition kicked off today with the host nation facing Ecuador in Group A, with the game live on the BBC.

He had previously been criticised, along with other football commentators and journalists, for agreeing to attend and be paid for the tournament in Qatar given its deeply conservative stance on issues such as gay rights.

Alan Shearer, Alex Scott and Ashley Williams were working as pundits and also addressed Qatar’s behaviour since being handed the tournament. 

But football fans reacted with anger and said they simply wanted to watch the matches, pointing out that if the presenters were so concerned over human rights issues they could simply have refused to fly there instead.

One social media user said: ‘Gary Lineker on BBC News talking about the lack of human rights in Qatar.

‘All while he’s sitting there and taking the money. The hypocrisy of the guy knows no bounds!’ 

In excess of 6,500 migrant workers are said to have died while building Qatar’s football stations for the tournament, and homosexuality is still illegal and sometimes punishable by death.

The BBC team came under fire from those watching who complained they had tuned in to watch the football, not to hear a ‘political segment’ – and others who pointed out the team had agreed to fly out to the country and were being paid to work there.

Among those to raise criticism was Piers Morgan, who told his Twitter followers the broadcasters were ‘putting out more virtual-signalling guff’: ‘Outrageously disrespectful to Qatar that the BBC didn’t broadcast the World Cup opening ceremony, and instead put out more virtue-signalling guff about how awful it is. 

‘If they’re that appalled, they should bring home their vast army of employees and spare us this absurd hypocrisy.’

One fan commented: ‘I’ve just tuned into the BBC to watch the FIFA World Cup and I appear to be getting a political broadcast.

‘Is it the same for everyone, or just my TV?’ 

Another fumed: ‘World Cup already a green bore fest and political advert. B****y hell.’ 

A third said: ‘Those BBC pundits sat around slaying the human rights of Qatar while being sat in Qatar is so bizarre.’ 

Lineker said at the top of the programme: ‘It’s the most controversial World Cup in recent history and a ball hasn’t even been kicked’, he said. ‘Ever since FIFA chose Qatar back in 2010, the smallest nation to host football’s greatest competition has faced some big questions. 

‘From accusations of corruption in the bidding process to the treatment of migrant workers who’ve built the stadiums where many lost their lives. Homosexuality is illegal here and women’s rights are also in the spotlight. Also the decision to switch the tournament from summer to winter. 

‘Against that back drop, there is a tournament to be played here that will be watched and enjoyed around the world. Stick to football say FIFA, well we will for a couple of minutes at least.’

Shearer in particular was critical of the awarding of the World Cup to Qatar: ‘Every country has its own issues including our own country, and I’m not saying we’re perfect, we’re far from it, but we were there in 2010 and we were as surprised as anyone was. 

‘First of all it was announced it was a winter World Cup, air conditioned stadiums, air conditioned fan fests and all that stuff. Three months later it is announced the first game of the World Cup is moved to today and 11 of those 22 members that had that vote for FIFA have either been sanctioned, fined or banned for life. 

‘Mohammed bin Hammam from Qatar, who was the chairman of the Asian football association has been banned for life, even Sepp Blatter has recently said it was a mistake, so that’s where we are with this World Cup.’

Williams then honed in on FIFA, adding: ‘I think when they awarded Qatar the tournament there were zero considerations for the human rights and the workers’ rights and there were no considerations put in place for the building of the stadiums. 

‘It’s been 10 years before we’ve seen any changes in that to improving working conditions and labour laws. The only positive is that this international tension has led to some reform. I think it only becomes sportswashing when we don’t talk about it.’

But football fans did not all agree with the BBC presenters’ stance, despite the high-profile human rights abuses which are ongoing in the host nation.

There was outrage directed towards Sunday’s commentary team as social media users accused them of ‘sitting there getting paid plenty’ to be in Qatar.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino gave a staggering speech on Saturday when he once again begged for the focus of the tournament to be on the football, and called the ‘one-sided’ criticism ‘hypocrisy’.

Scott slated Infantino for his words, branding the 52-year-old ‘confusing and absolutely bizarre’.

‘I’m trying to understand, you brought a World Cup here and I’m trying to understand about a culture’, she said. ‘I’m trying to understand everything – the whole context of what’s going on and what the FIFA president said yesterday is to me confusing and absolutely bizarre. How you can say ‘today I am a migrant worker’? No you are not and you never will be.

‘Yes you have moved forward and now there is a minimum wage in this country that happened in the last two years, £1 an hour, £240 a month, your salary is £1.5 million or whatever it is, you will never know what it is like to be a migrant worker and for families now who lose their loved ones just trying to make a living is absolutely bizarre. 

‘And for FIFA to be awarding clubs compensation of over £200million to allow their players to be playing here is absurd because you’re not even committing to a compensation fund for families.’

Several fans have criticised the organisation’s decision to focus on the issues rather than the football straight away, with many labelling Lineker and the station ‘woke’.

‘BBC going full on woke from the off. #worldcup2022qatar leave politics out of football. Hope all the virtue signallers have a lovely afternoon.’ said one user.

‘And the BBC tv woke fest has begun! Lineker was bad enough normally without an agenda to drive his wokeness!’ added another.

David Beckham watches from the stands during opening ceremony: Footballer joins dignitaries in the stadium amid fury over his controversial £10m deal to be Qatar World Cup ambassador

By Hannah Mcdonaldand David Averre For Mailonline

David Beckham is in attendance at the opening game of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Doha amid controversy surrounding his reported £10 million promotional deal with the tournament’s organisers.

The former England captain was pictured in the stands watching on during the tournament’s opening ceremony at the Al Bayt stadium in the Qatari capital earlier today. 

It is believed Becks remained in the stands to watch the match between hosts Qatar and Ecuador which officially kicks off the tournament. 

Beckham’s attendance comes as comedian Joe Lycett livestreamed himself ‘shredding £10,000’ destined for charity after the footballer failed to pull out of his lucrative World Cup promotional deal. 

Mr Lycett, 34, has openly spoken about being queer and advocated for LGBTQ+ rights. 

The comic issued an ultimatum to Beckham after it was reported he had signed a £10 million deal with the FIFA World Cup hosts despite the nation’s highly questionably human rights record.  

Homosexuality remains illegal in the Gulf state and anyone found participating in same-sex sexual activity can be punished with up to seven years in prison.

The livestream, which was broadcast on a website set up by Mr Lycett called benderslikeBeckham, showed a woodchipper in the background with what appeared to be two stacks of cash in front of it.

A seemingly solemn Mr Lycett then walked into shot wearing a fluffy rainbow jacket and put each wad into the shredder, before posing in front of the camera and walking out of frame.  

He shared the video of the livestream on Twitter afterwards with the caption ‘A platform for progress’.

Birmingham-born comedian Mr Lycett unveiled the deadline last week in a video message posted on social media in which he offered to donate £10,000 of his own money to LGBTQ+ charities if Beckham ended the sponsorship before the tournament started.

If not, Mr Lycett said he would livestream himself shredding the money along with Beckham’s ‘status as gay icon’.

Earlier today the comic began counting down the hours to midday with the tag #benderslikeBeckham and a link to a website he created for the stunt.

The livestream had more than 13,000 viewers. 

On Saturday the comedian tweeted a photograph of what appears to be a stack of cash with the caption ’24 hours to go…’ and #benderslikeBeckham.

This followed a tweet on Friday of an image of a large woodchipper with the caption ’48 hours to go’.

Sharing the video on Twitter on November 13, Mr Lycett said that although Beckham has previously been a vocal supporter of gay rights, he has signed a reported £10 million deal with ‘one of the worst places in the world to be gay.’

On November 16, Mr Lycett shared an email sent to Mr Beckham’s PR saying there was only four days to go and urging a response, stressing that he did not want to be forced to shred the money. 

Mr Lycett said previously in a video message: ‘This is a message to David Beckham. I consider you, along with Kim Woodburn and Monty Don, to be a gay icon. 

‘You were the first premiership footballer to do shoots with gay magazines like Attitude, to speak openly about your gay fans, and you married a Spice Girl which is the gayest thing a human being can do.

‘But now it’s 2022 and you’ve signed a reported £10 million deal with Qatar to be their ambassador during the FIFA World Cup. 

‘Qatar was voted as the one of the worst places in the world to be gay – homosexuality is illegal, punishable by imprisonment, and if you’re Muslim, possibly even death.

‘You have always talked about the power of football as a force for good. Which suggests to me you have never seen West Brom. 

‘But generally I agree – so with that in mind I’m giving you a choice. If you end your relationship with Qatar I will donate ten grand of my own money (that’s a grand for every million you’re reportedly getting) to charities that support queer people in football.

‘However, if you do not I will throw the money into a shredder at midday next Sunday, just before the opening ceremony of the World Cup and stream it right here. 

‘Not just the money, but also your status as a gay icon will be shredded.

‘Also you’ll be forcing me to commit what might be a crime. Although even then, I reckon I’ll get off more lightly than I would if I got caught whacking off a lad in Doha.

‘The choice is yours. I look forward to hearing from you.’

David Beckham previously signed a controversial £10 million deal with Qatar to promote the country ahead of the world cup.

This is despite warnings over human rights abuses and the country’s abysmal record on LGBT+ issues.

In a recent video released by Qatar, David Beckham met with a 60-year-old woman whose homespun entrepreneurship has made her an icon for progressive women throughout the Middle East.

But this was somewhat overshadowed by the woman’s daughter, who acted as interpreter for the clip, later denouncing homosexuality as ‘against human nature’ as she proclaimed: ‘We are not animals here!’

She told the Daily Mail: ‘That is not acceptable.

‘It [homosexuality] goes against human nature, it goes against science and it goes against our culture! We are not animals here!

‘God has differentiated us from animals. God has created us as men and women.

‘This only happens because people have been sexually abused (as children) and this has made them afraid.’

LGBT+ football fans have been warned by some organisations to stay away from this year’s world cup amid fears over their safety.

David Beckham has been widely criticised for his deal with Qatar, and has not spoken about the country’s oppressive laws against the LGBT+ community.

It is not the first time David Beckham has come under fire over his contract with Qatar.

An England LGBTQ+ fans’ representative expressed disappointment on Wednesday that David Beckham is a paid ambassador ahead of the World Cup, having previously considered him to be a ‘great ally’ of the community.

Three Lions Pride group members have decided not to travel to the finals which start later this month, amid fears their presence could make the local LGBTQ+ community more vulnerable in a country where same-sex relationships are criminalised.

Three Lions Pride co-founder Di Cunningham believes players speaking out on LGBTQ+ rights have ‘shown up’ tournament organisers FIFA, but reserved particular criticism for those, like former England captain Beckham, who have been paid to endorse Qatar.

On a webinar hosted by the Sports and Rights Alliance on Wednesday, she said: ‘One of the difficulties we’re having is people taking the money in order to promote Qatar, to promote the World Cup.

‘We’re just so disappointed because the LGBTQ+ community has had David Beckham on a pedestal as a great ally, and then it turns out he’s an ambassador for this World Cup and that’s incredibly disappointing.

‘So I hope the message has got through that people will be criticised for that.’

Mr Lycett, who has previously appeared on numerous television comedy shows and presented the Great British Sewing Bee, has previously been very politically outspoken.

On the first episode of Laura Kuenssberg’s Sunday Programme on the BBC, Mr Lycett was invited on the show and was widely applauded on social media for mocking the Conservative Party and its then-leader, Liz Truss.