Try to put yourself in the pea-sized brain of David Beckham for a moment.
You are a legendary footballer with a combined family fortune of £380million for whom your every extravagant desire in life will be fulfilled.
There are free private jets paid by big companies or charities if you need to travel for work.
A £73m property portfolio of luxury villas in London, the Cotswolds, Miami and Dubai.
One of your most recent purchases was a £5million 93.5ft yacht called Seven, which you sail regularly with your wife Victoria and children Brooklyn, 23, Romeo, 19, Cruz, 17, and Harper, 11. go on long vacations, the most of which we can only dream of.
While you could comfortably never work again, international brands like Pepsi, Samsung, H&M, Haig and Adidas fill their coffers with millions more commercial deals every year.
Despite this unimaginable wealth, you have presented yourself as a champion of minorities and the underprivileged.
In social media posts, you have described yourself as a feminist, gay rights advocate and philanthropist who cares about the mistreated in the developing world.
In such a scenario, imagine that you are offered £10 million to become the acceptable face of an Arab state where it is illegal to be gay.
The former England captain sails on a boat against the backdrop of Qatar’s capital, Doha
A state where a female rape victim faces seven years in prison for having sex outside of marriage, and one where women need permission to marry, travel, or even go to school through a male guardian.
And a state where thousands of young immigrants have been worked to death to build a glittering soccer stadium ahead of this year’s controversial World Cup.
They are warned by Amnesty International that such a deal with Qatar would do great harm to the plight of those trying to draw the world’s attention to the appalling conditions in the totalitarian country.
You are also aware that your cowardly desire to be knighted will surely be shattered forever.
In fact, any good work you claim to have done to advance human rights and international equality is being swept away.
Surely you see reason and realize that no amount of money is worth washing your reputation into the Persian Gulf?
Not if you’re Beckham, a man so selfish, so greedy and so hypocritical that he describes the country as “perfection” in a newly introduced promotional film for Qatar.
Beckham even uses the massive publicity to gushed that he “can’t wait” to take his kids to the “incredible place.”
I wonder what attractions he will show you?
Beckham shakes hands with men in traditional Arabic attire
Probably not the construction sites on which more than 6,500 workers have died in appalling conditions since Qatar won the World Cup.
Perhaps he could tell Romeo, who turns 20 tomorrow, the story of Ghal Singh Rai of Nepal, who took his own life aged just 20 after working in inhumane conditions as a cleaner in a Qatari camp for workers who built a World Cup stadium.
Beckham adds in the promotional video about Qatar: “The modern and traditional fusion to create something very special.”
I traditionally wonder if he’s referring to Sharia law, which allows homosexuals to be executed. Or the more modern punishments that include flogging and life imprisonment.
Beckham’s deal is symptomatic of a moral crisis in football ahead of the World Cup, with Gareth Southgate’s England team still intending to take a knee against racial discrimination despite agreeing to play in Qatar.
Beckham can be seen in the video campaigning for Qatar despite his human rights record
Well, what about discrimination against women and gay people, boys? Are you going to just ignore that during the tournament?
This devious hypocrisy is why political gestures should be banned in sport; Southgate was unwise to continue the charade knowing the World Cup in Qatar is just around the corner.
Like all top celebrity hypocrites, Beckham still wants to signal and preach virtue, which is why he needs to be called out now.
He remains a Unicef ambassador, for goodness sake.
DAN WOOTTON: The only perfect thing about David Beckham’s propaganda for the gay-hating and woman-oppressing Arab state of Qatar is that we can now ignore his virtue signaling forever — goldenballs will always put money before morality
And when Blackpool footballer Jake Daniels came out earlier this year, he said: “It’s a shame it’s so strange for someone to come out. At the end of the day there will be a lot of gay people in sport and why should they be any different?’
Well, Mr. Beckham, that sounds utterly hollow considering you are now a fully funded supporter of a state where I could be killed for my sexuality.
Have you expressed such a view to your colleagues who govern Qatar?
It’s about time the world woke up to Beckham’s approach to charity, which really is all about improving his own brand.
Beckileaks’ emails, released by a whistleblower in 2017, suggest he expects Unicef to inflate costs associated with his work because, as he says, he “doesn’t use my personal money want to get involved in this”.
In an email, he charmingly ranted: “If there were no funds, the money would be for me. This damn money is mine.”
Beckham made his choice and I accept that, but we can ignore his virtue marks forever now, knowing that he is a man of no values who will always put money over morals.
He doesn’t care about women’s rights.
He doesn’t give a damn about gay rights.
He doesn’t care about abused guest workers.
Heck, he doesn’t even bother securing his precious knighthood.
No, David Beckham only cares about one thing: the size of his bulging wallet.