Gossip magazine’s sex allegation against David Beckham causes an ill-timed distraction
What a rogue some say that David Beckham fellow is — those twinkling eyes, that cheeky grin, that romp with a hooker.
What? You didn’t hear about that? Well, no surprise there. Beckham insists it never happened.
But In Touch magazine, a celebrity gossip rag, claims that it did. It has the words of the “lady” herself, and it went ahead and published them.
That brought Beckham’s army of legal advisors snorting and charging into the fray Thursday, the day before the Galaxy’s most overhyped game of the Major League Soccer season, against the New York Red Bulls.
“The allegations that have been made are completely untrue and totally ridiculous, as the magazine was clearly told before publication,” a Beckham spokesman said.
“Sadly, we live in a world where a magazine can print lies and believe they can get away with it. We are taking legal action against the magazine.”
According to reports in England’s Guardian newspaper, the Beckham camp “is planning to launch lawsuits for malice in the U.S. and for defamation and slander in Germany, where the magazine is also published.”
So what is this all really about? A slip-up by Beckham, who has been married to his wife, Victoria, for 11 years? They have three sons and every indication, from Beckham at least, is that since moving to Los Angeles their family life has been happy and trouble-free.
The magazine quoted a 26-year-old woman as saying that Beckham paid her and another prostitute $10,000 for a one-night stand in New York in August 2007, the year he joined the Galaxy.
One far-fetched notion was floated by England’s most scurrilous tabloid, the Sun, the same publication whose fawning correspondent was in the Galaxy locker room recently and asked Beckham to sign a No. 23 Beckham jersey for him. Journalistic professionalism at its finest.
“One theory about the allegations is that they may be an attempt to undermine England’s bid to stage the 2018 World Cup,” the Sun said. “Becks is one of our leading ambassadors.”
Whatever the reason, the timing of the revelations is unfortunate for “Becks,” who is scheduled to fly to Trinidad immediately after Friday night’s match to attend Saturday’s final of the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup between Japan and South Korea.
In Port of Spain, Beckham, in his role as England’s World Cup bid poster boy, is set to meet Joseph “Sepp” Blatter, FIFA’s president. Were Blatter inclined to pry, at least part of their conversation might be quite interesting. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, and all that.
The Beckham drama comes on the heels of similar but separate scandals connecting England national team players Wayne Rooney and Peter Crouch to prostitutes. And it makes headlines worldwide, naturally, especially after Tiger Woods’ much-publicized and ultimately costly extramarital indiscretions.
Beckham is seeking a front-page — in other words, on the cover — retraction from In Touch, which should keep the pot boiling for a while longer.
Meanwhile, the Galaxy was left Thursday trying, with only limited success, to keep the focus on its game against the Red Bulls. But the wrong questions kept being asked during the lead-up.
Why was Beckham being allowed to go to Trinidad when he is still trying to regain full fitness?
“That’s something that’s been planned for a while, and we’re supportive of it,” Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena said, although adding tongue in cheek, “We’re hoping the U.S. gets the World Cup and not England.
“Certainly, it’s not a perfect situation for us, but he’s not going to be traveling by boat and he should be all right. David’s an experienced traveler.”
Friday night’s match had been billed as the Beckham versus Henry duel, a reference to French forward Thierry Henry, who splashed out almost $15 million on a SoHo penthouse in New York after arriving in the U.S. in July, and then went down because of a right knee injury. Sound familiar, Galaxy fans?
Arena was unconcerned. “They did pretty well before Henry arrived, and I’m sure they’re well-positioned to play without him,” he said of the Red Bulls. “I don’t think they’ll miss a beat.”
Red Bulls Coach Hans Backe said Henry’s injury is not serious.
“I don’t think it’s a big one that needs surgery or anything,” he said. “It’s more how to handle the pain. We will not take any risks with him. We have to try to pick up three or four more points to reach the playoffs and get him ready for that.”
Arena is being just as cautious with Beckham, who has played only 20 minutes 37 minutes off the bench in two games since returning from surgery on a torn left Achilles’ tendon.
“Our goal is to get him completely match fit by playoff time,” Arena said.
Match fit and free of distractions, he should have said.
grahame.jones@latimes.com
