Superstar sent leaked emails in heat of the moment’ but doesn’t care about being a Sir
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DAVID Beckham was defiant last night as a row raged about abusive emails he fired off after being snubbed for a knighthood.
The red- faced former England football captain told a friend he now regrets sending the messages, which have been leaked by a hacker.
But he also insisted: “I don’t care about being knighted.”
Becks, 41, admitted he DID brand the honours committee that denied him his title “unappreciative c***s” but said he wrote the insulting words in the “heat of the moment”.
He also vowed to continue his work as a Goodwill Ambassador for children’s charity Unicef and denied claims that the hope of becoming “Sir David” motivated his support for good causes.
The former Manchester United and Real Madrid legend spent yesterday holed up in his London home as a backlash grew over the cache of emails that were leaked online.
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The global icon knows he faces a fight to avoid his multi- million pound good-guy image being tarnished.
Among those piling into Becks was TV presenter Piers Morgan, who taunted him on Twitter: “RIP Brand Beckham.”
Morgan targeted Beckham after it was claimed he launched a rant against Welsh singer Katherine Jenkins when she was handed an OBE in 2014.
Becks apparently wrote: “Katherine Jenkins OBE, for what? Singing at the rugby and going to see the troops plus taking coke. F****** joke.”
Morgan branded the outburst “repulsive”. He later added: “Nobody will be envious of David Beckham by tomorrow. They will all be sickened by him.
“I think we can forget about ‘ Sir David Beckham’ ever happening.”
But a close friend of Becks said: “He is very calm at the moment because he knows the great work that he has done for Unicef. He is just saddened that people would question all that work.
“Genuinely, he wasn’t as vitriolic as that. But you do say some things in private and in the heat of the moment and you don’t really mean it.
“To be honest he does feel that he has given so much to his country.
“But, while he was frustrated in those emails, he was over it the moment he sent them. Getting the knighthood is not what his work is about. He doesn’t care if he gets a knighthood or not.”
The cache of emails uncovered by a hacker was published on the website Football Leaks on Friday.
In one message Beckham, who was awarded an OBE in 2003, is alleged to have dismissed such honours with: “Unless it is a knighthood, f*** off.”
Among attacks on the football legend yesterday was the accusation that he used his charity work as tool to secure a knighthood.
Flight
Football Leaks claimed Beckham admitted as much in the leaked emails.
A close adviser also reportedly said his work with Unicef produced a “halo effect”.
He is also said to have demanded that Unicef pay for a £6,685 business class flight to visit children affected by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.
The Sunday People can reveal that the charity shelled out nearly £1 million on “managing high profile supporters” over the past st five years. The huge sums are thought ought to have gone on ambassadors like Beckham and actor Ewan McGregor.egor.
Football Leakseaks also claimed Beckham reacted angrily rily when friend and PR advisor Simonon Oliveira suggested he put a million dollars (£800,000) into a prize-giving Unicef dinner in Shanghai.
Beckham allegedly replied: “I don’t want to put my personal money into this cause.e. This f****** money is mine.”
But a friend nd of Beckham said: “The onene thing he is very proud of, and feels can’t be faulted, lted, is his work for Unicef.”icef.”
A spokesmanman for Beckham said:d: “This story is baseded on outdated material aterial taken out of f context from hacked acked