David Beckham walked out to rapturous applause at The Earthshot Prize – but viewers at home didn’t feel the same.
The Earthshot Prize is awarded to five winners each year for their contributions to environmentalism, and Beckham was on hand to present the third award for ‘build a waste-free world’.
He was introduced by host Clara Amfo as ‘one of the greatest players to have ever graced a football pitch’ and a ‘dedicated Unicef ambassador’.
As the star walked onto the stage – with royalty in the audience – the crowd went wild, forcing Becks to halt his speech until the whooping died down.
‘Good evening, everyone. I was honoured to be asked by Prince William to be part of this year’s Earthshot Prize,’ the 47-year-old began.
‘Now, I’m an optimist because humans are capable of great creativity when we collaborate.
‘We create beauty in art, music, film, and of course, sport. We create things that bring us comfort in this challenging world,’ he continued in his speech.
‘But, we also create waste. We make over 300 million tonnes of plastic per year. That’s the equivalent, in weight, to every adult on Earth.’
Beckham proceeded to praise the ‘incredible’ work of the finalists, before announcing Notpla as the winner.
Despite the footie icon’s cheerful manner, Twitter users were keen to bring up his ambassadorship with Qatar amid the World Cup, with one stating that he should be ‘nowhere near’ the Earthshot.
Blasting him, they tweeted: ‘David Beckham should be nowhere near this, he is literally the ambassador for the World Cup with the biggest ever carbon footprint, absolute hypocrite’.
The former Manchester United player has endured great criticism since signing a multi-million-pound deal with Qatar, where the tournament is currently being held.
Qatar has a range of issues with human rights, with a severe lack of protection for women, while homosexuality is illegal and punishable by imprisonment.
Over 6,000 migrant workers are also said to have died in the Arab country since it was awarded the role of hosting the World Cup.
And it wasn’t just one social media user calling out Beckham for putting in an appearance at the environmental event, as another tweeted fiercely: ‘Beckham talking about waste and the planet. How much did someone pay him for that speech? Did he stand in a queue for his cheque for a few hours? I’ll tell him what is a waste. Lives. For building stadiums for the government that paid him a s**t ton of cash’.
