David Beckham’s Netflix documentary ‘Manipulated truth to spin a narrative’, say fact-checkers

The latest phenomenon in which sports stars give documentary filmmakers confidential access in exchange for positive coverage – The last dance And Drive to survive on netflix, Welcome to Wrexham on Prime Video – has found many fans on the streaming platforms, but others are raising eyebrows by claiming it’s a cynically manipulated narrative just to make the star look good.

The of Great Britain Sunday Times turned his probing eye to the recent four-hour Netflix documentary series BeckhamIt chronicles football superstar David Beckham’s rollercoaster career and finds six examples of how history is being rewritten to ensure Beckham’s halo remains intact.

They include:

1998 World Cup match – The document states that after Beckham was shown a red card and sent off for fouling an Argentinian player, he was met with hostility, even from his own Man Utd fans, until at the end of the rehabilitated match retired. next season. Actually that one Sunday Times Beckham apparently continued to have the home field advantage from the moment he re-entered the stadium.

2001 World Cup qualifiers – the document states that Beckham is fouled on the pitch seconds before he scores a dramatic goal from the resulting free-kick and England’s hopes of progression are saved. In fact, it was Beckham’s co-star Teddy Sheringham who made a mistake and allowed Beckham to take the free kick.

Madrid 2004 – In the newspaper investigating the fallout of headlines about an alleged affair between Beckham and his assistant Rebecca Loos (the footballer was then, as now, married to Victoria Beckham), a Daily Mirror front page appears that begins with the words: “The England captain dismissed the allegations as ridiculous.” In fact, the actual paper began: “My sister actually had an affair with Becks.”

These examples support the argument that such documentaries are merely sanitized PR exercises for the celebrities involved, who always appear as “executive producers” in the credits.

Either way, it doesn’t look like the influx of fans is going to be stopped. Beckham’s documentary series has already attracted a record 3.4 million subscribers in the UK, which is no bad thing for Netflix as the company is overseeing a £1 price increase for its subscribers in the same region .