To someone from as far back as the 90s, to this day and age, the image of a celebrity player of European football, or soccer in the US, would have to be retired British footballer David Beckham. Not merely an athlete, but a juggernaut international brand name in and of himself, Beckham was a highly sought after celebrity endorser, with companies such as Adidas, Pepsi and even Disney having taken his services. And lest we forget, the guy is married to Victoria Adams, formerly Posh Spice of the once global phenomenon girl group the Spice Girls.
Everything has been going peachy keen for Beckham even after leaving the sport he loved.
But a recent online incident has suddenly turned his former bulletproof reputation inside out with the alleged leak of his private email correspondence showing another side to his persona.
Inner thoughts come to light
Many sources have been cited regarding the nature of the email leak. Hackers reportedly blackmailed Beckham with the threat of releasing his correspondence and the latter refused to pay them off for £1 million. Now dozens of mail gone back and forth between the soccer legend and his PR man Simon Oliveira have been blown to the public, and the contents have been shocking indeed.
One sampling of the leaked content has Beckham commenting on the 2014 New Year Honours bestowing orders of chivalry on certain individuals; he was said to have criticized the awarding of an OBE to Welsh classical singer Katherine Jenkins.
Furthermore, Beckham was incensed that the honors committee have yet to bestow him a knighthood (his current rank of Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire or OBE from 2003 does not accord him the title of “Sir”). In both cases, he resorted to the liberal use of swear words.
There were also a series of email exchanges between Beckham and Oliveira regarding some sour feelings over the footballer’s celebrity ambassadorship for UNICEF; talk of money was involved there.
One last bit of info has the publicist pleading with his talent not to upload a picture of a gifted gold-plated laptop on Instagram, with the caveat that doing so would ruin Beckham’s “man of the people” image.
David unfazed
If you’re wondering how Beckham is taking to the furor that has arisen in the wake of the email leak, the 41-year-old sports icon seems pretty chill about the whole deal.
Monday, February 6 saw him in athletic wear strolling down a London street with two shakes in his hand.
A spokesperson on his behalf has already given a statement saying the emails were doctored to be more vicious sounding too. Well, he’s probably got other matters to think about, like his son Cruz getting into the music scene last December for example. The leaks never (seem to) bother him anyway.
