Harry Redknapp has said he feels “deceived” and “misled” after being the subject of an undercover investigation organised by Channel 4’s Dispatches.
In Monday night’s episode, titled Celebs For Sale: The Great Charity Scandal, Harry and fellow star Caitlyn Jenner were seen accepting payment from a made-up charity called CUPPA, which they were told was aiming to “stop plastic pollution in Africa”.
Former I’m A Celebrity winner Harry was seen charging £15,000 for an Instagram post about the fake organisation and an additional £5000 for a photo-shoot, in which he was seen sporting a CUPPA mug.
Speaking ahead of the Dispatches episode, Harry’s spokesperson slammed the programme, and pointed out the former footballer and manager’s track record with charities.
“As everyone knows, Harry does a massive amount of work for charities big and small, and has done for many years, which he doesn’t charge for,” they said, as reported by Metro.
“He is disappointed that he was deceived into believing that private investors wanted to engage his services, and would not have accepted payment if he had been told this was being paid for by the charity in question.
“Harry’s 2019 theatre tours raised over £160,000 for charity, and is doing the same again this year.”
They added: “Harry is shocked and upset that he was misled in this way and is donating the money he was paid to the charities he works with so that it can be put to good use.”
Caitlyn’s spokesperson was similarly displeased, saying: “The claims by Channel 4 that Caitlyn Jenner is non-charitable are false, defamatory, and hurtful. In general terms, the allegations are false because Caitlyn is a strong believer in the spirit of charitable giving.
“She was taken advantage of and exploited by a secret camera crew pretending to be a charity – her only intention was to promote the ‘charity’.”
Her rep then stated that Caitlyn had donated the money she earned from posting about CUPPA to her own charity, The Caitlyn Jenner Foundation.
They went on to describe the organisation as one “whose mission is to promote equality and combat discrimination by providing grants to organizations that empower and improve the lives of transgender people (including youth), provide support to bullying victims, help to prevent suicide, and provide healthcare, housing and employment support”.
Caitlyn set up the foundation in 2016, the year after she came out as transgender in a TV interview with Diane Sawyer, later appearing on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine.
A representative for MN2S, the talent agency who represent both stars, said: “Many of the celebrities that MN2S work with undertake charity work for free. In addition, they are regularly approached to undertake one-off fundraising work – as was the case with your fake charity CUPPA. In those instances, we may agree a fee that covers not just the individual but the work of the team that make it possible.
“This is widely known within the charity sector. Charities book celebrities because it raises their profile and helps them often raise far more money than the amount paid to the celebrity. The fee is often heavily discounted from the commercial rate, as was the case with the celebrities we work with and CUPPA.”
The Dispatches episode Celebs For Sale: The Great Charity Scandal is now available to watch on the catch-up service All 4.