Soccer star Jordan Henderson throws gay people under the bus for $15M then says… he’s the victim?

Soccer star Jordan Henderson received a not-so-warm welcome when he returned to Wembley Stadium Friday for a friendly match and was booed by fans.

It was the first time the Liverpool captain was back home since signing with a Saudi Arabian club over the summer, and the crowd wasn’t pleased.

The LGBTQ+ ally was recently criticized for deciding to play in Saudi Arabia, and pilloried for claiming it wasn’t about the money.

Following his hostile homecoming, Henderson sat down with an English TV station and… defended his move to one of the most anti-gay countries on earth???

He said he has “no regrets.”

“I think having someone like myself, with the values that I have, in Saudi Arabia is only a good thing,” he said. “Before I went to Saudi people knew the groups I supported and helped in the past.”

“My values haven’t changed as a person just because I’m going to a different country to play football.”

Girl, please.

Money talks— Floris van Doorn (@favd393) October 18, 2023

Everytime he opens he mouth he just makes thing worse. Just be honest and say you couldn’t resist the Saudi blood money.— tweetSP0RT (@tweetSP0RT) October 17, 2023

Still love the bloke, but he needs to keep his mouth shut and sack his PR team.— Cllr Thomas Ashby (@thomas_ashby_) October 17, 2023

Henderson, 33, transferred from the Premier League to Saudi Arabia, and inked a $15 million deal with one of the kingdom’s pro clubs, Al Ettifaq.

While he will earn significant more than what he made at Liverpool, he said in a disastrous interview recently that money wasn’t his primary motivating factor.

“People will see this club come with loads of money and he’s just gone, ‘Yeah, I’m going.’ When in reality that just wasn’t the case at all. People can believe me or not, but in my life and my career, money has never been a motivation. Ever,” he told The Athletic.

Sure, Jan.

“Don’t get me wrong, when you move, the business deal has to be tight. You have to have financials, you have to feel wanted, you have to feel valued. And money is a part of that. But that wasn’t the sole reason. And these possibilities came up before money was even mentioned.”

That’s difficult to buy. Henderson is far from the first soccer star to bolt for Saudi cash: Champions League winners Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Riyad Mahrez also play in the country.

One-time gay icon David Beckham signed a $150 million deal to be Qatar’s tourism ambassador ahead of the 2022 World Cup, and claims the anti-LGBTQ+ Arab state is perfectly safe for gay people.

All of them, of course, sacrificed prestige for pay days. But Henderson refuses to admit that.

He even has the gall to say he’s been hurt — that’s right, hurt — by the backlash from LGBTQ+ fans.

“There can be a lot of criticism, a lot of negativity around me as a person. And that was difficult to take,” he said. “But I just feel as though, because I do care about different causes that I’ve been involved in, and different communities… I do care. And for people to criticize and say that I’d turned my back on them really, really hurt me.”

When news broke that Henderson signed with Al Ettifaq, Liverpool’s well-known LGBTQ+ supporters group, Kop Outs, said in a statement its members were “appalled” by his decision.

As Liverpool captain, Henderson was one of the most outspoken supporters of the Premier League’s rainbow laces campaign, and also wore a rainbow armband.

Shortly after signing with his Saudi team, he vowed he wouldn’t “disrespect the culture” by wearing rainbow laces or paraphernalia.

In other words: He doesn’t want to rock his money boat!

In response to Friday’s booing, Henderson can say he’s still the same person, and his values are no different. But the fact is, he’ll no longer be as outwardly supportive.

Out Scottish soccer star Zander Murray put it best when he told Henderson to stop the PR stunts.

Henderson is trying to play both sides, but his new uniform shows where he ultimately falls.