This evening, the cast of Ted Lasso had a somewhat hectic trip to the White House.
The performers, including Hannah Waddingham, Jason Sudeikis, Brett Goldstein, and Jeremy Swift, experienced a real-life heckle from a journalist who refused to stop speaking before Jason’s turn at the microphone.
The AFC Richmond faces had come to the White House for a meeting behind closed doors with President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden to address mental health, a major issue of the popular Apple television programme.
Before they did so, however, they decided to hold a news conference, a choice they would likely come to regret.
Although fictional football coach Ted Lasso is no stranger to unpleasant press interactions, the actor behind the beloved character was unprepared to find himself in the firing line.
According to Deadline, the journalist heard speaking loudly in the background was Simon Ateba of Today News Africa. The press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, presented the actors to the crowd.
The audio is unclear, but he apparently complained that he had not been summoned for a news conference in “months.”
‘No, no, no, we’re not doing this,’ said Karine as she spotted him in the crowd, but that didn’t stop Mr Ateba from continuing to interrupt the proceedings.
Things quickly became tense as the cast of Ted Lasso waited in the wings with increasingly strained grins.
Karine apologised to the cast for stopping and waiting for Mr. Ateba to remain silent.
Ultimately, he did pause, allowing Jason to express his opinion on mental health.
He said: ‘The big theme of the show is to check in with your neighbor, your co-worker, your friends, your family, and ask how they are doing, and listen, sincerely.
‘You all ask questions for a living, but you all listen for a living. So who am I preaching to? The choir, that is.’
He added: ‘And while it is easier said than done, we also have to know that we shouldn’t be afraid to ask for help ourselves.’
Trent Crimm (The Independent), aka Ted Lasso actor James Lance, was picked to answer a question from the crowd in an unanticipated, apparently pre-planned, but no less enjoyable turn of events.
In character, James posed a football-related inquiry to his co-star: ‘How do you feel about Kansas City being one of the named hosting cities for the 2026 World Cup?’
Jason replied of his native Kansas: ‘Here I was hoping for a soft ball. Okay, erm, you know what? I’m very excited, truth be told.
‘Kansas City is one of those teams, you know, I love this town.
‘What I am genuinely worried about is when we get all of these folks from around the world to come to Kansas City and see our city, eat our food, meet our people, you’re going to have a lot of folks who are going to want to move away’.
Season three, episode one of Ted Lasso is available to stream on Apple TV and other episodes are released every Wednesday.
