Jason Sudeikis plagued by journalists both real and fake at Ted Lasso White House press conference

Brett Goldstein, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, Jason Sudeikis, and Hannah Waddingham at the White House briefing room

Ted Lasso may be used to taking reporter questions, but Jason Sudeikis just got an intense crash course at the White House. The cast of the Apple TV+ series were in attendance for a summit on mental health with President Joe Biden, but before taking a closed door meeting with Biden, they stopped in for a press conference with Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, to mixed results.

“The big theme of the show is to check in with your neighbor, your coworker, 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,” Sudeikis said from the podium. “And while it is easier said than done, we also have to know that we shouldn’t be afraid to ask for help ourselves.”

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Jason Sudeikis and the cast of ‘Ted Lasso’ attend White House news conference

The press conference had more than one surprise in store, as Sudeikis fielded a question from “Trent Crimm, The Independent,” otherwise known as Ted Lasso actor James Lance. In video captured by The L.A. Times’ Erin B. Logan, an in-character Lance asked how Sudeikis felt about his hometown of Kansas City being one of the hosting cities of the 2026 World Cup. “Here I was, hoping for a soft ball,” Sudeikis joked in response. “You know what, I’m very excited, truth be told. …What I am genuinely worried about is, once we get all these folks from all over the world coming to Kansas City, and see our city, eat our food, meet our people, you’re gonna have a lot of folks that will wanna move away.”

But it wasn’t all fun and games for the fictional football squad. According to Deadline, an actual journalist, Simon Ateba of Today News Africa, interrupted the event to complain that he hadn’t been called on in several months. Jean-Pierre shut down the interruption, and Kelly O’Donnell of NBC News apologized to the guests on behalf of the press corps. Ateba resumed his protesting once the cast left, causing arguments amongst the gathered journalists.

“What has just occurred this last 10 or 15 minutes is unacceptable. It is unacceptable,” Jean-Pierre said after the complaints died down. “So we are going to either continue to briefing, or we can just end the briefing right here.” Who knew good ol’ Ted could get folks so riled up? (Suppose Sudeikis now knows what it’s like to be unexpectedly interrupted at a public event.)

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