News (World)

You can “donate” to FIFA to prevent an anti-LGBTQ+ country from hosting the World Cup

Miriam Margolyes urges viewers to make a "big gay donation" to keep FIFA from choosing an anti-LGBTQ+ host country for the World Cup
Miriam Margolyes urges viewers to make a "big gay donation" to keep FIFA from choosing an anti-LGBTQ+ host country for the World Cup Photo: Screenshot

The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) is notoriously corrupt, and the World Cup has been irreparably harmed after officials allowed Qatar to host the prestigious sporting event. The country openly persecutes women and LGBTQ+ people and adheres to strict religious law that forbids the sale of alcohol.

While the government had promised to allow alcohol sales and welcome LGBTQ+ fans, among other assurances, they changed their minds right before the soccer contest began. Any shows of support for the LGBTQ+ community were also forbidden.

Harry Potter actor Miriam Margolyes (who played Professor Sprout) stars in a cheeky new video that urges anyone who is “a great big gay and you love football, or if you love football and also gays,” to make a “donation” to keep FIFA from allowing Saudi Arabia to host an upcoming World Cup. The country also punishes homosexuality with imprisonment or death.

“Queer people across the globe love football. We just can’t support it like everyone else, because the World Cup is currently being held in Qatar – and we all know how Qatar feels about the gays,” Margolyes says in the video. “But if THAT wasn’t a big enough kick in the tits, the 2030 World Cup could be given to another host nation that criminalizes LGBTQ+ people, judging by the countries currently bidding for it.”

“It’s our big gay duty to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” she continues. “After all, a World Cup without queer people just isn’t a World Cup.”

“Luckily, it turns out the wonderful, upstanding people who run football love ‘donations.’ So we thought we’d create one of our own. The Big Gay ‘Donation.’ A ‘donation’ so big and gay and persuasive, it can convince the lovely, open-minded, honest people who run football to hold the 2030 world cup in an LGBTQ+ friendly host nation.”

Donations actually go to Stonewall, a British LGBTQ+ organization that fights for the rights of queer people worldwide, “including the ones living in Qatar.”

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