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Jason Sudeikis’ award-winning creation of Ted Lasso was inspired in part by Donald Trump’s arrival on the political scene.
The actor told the Guardian newspaper that in 2015 he thought about reprising a character he had previously created for a comedy sketch. Lasso was originally more ‘warlike’, but the politics of the time convinced Sudeikis to steer him in a warmer direction.
Sudeikis told The Guardian:
“I’m not particularly active online and it actually affected me. Then Donald Trump comes down the escalator. I was like, ‘okay, that’s silly’ and then what he unleashed in people… I hated that people wouldn’t listen to each other. Things became very binary and I don’t think the world works that way.”
The result was the heartfelt, uncynical character of Lasso – a clueless coach recruited to manage the fictional English football team Richard ACF – that captured the imagination on both sides of the Atlantic.
And as the series prepares to bid farewell after three seasons, Lasso’s “Believe” motto has spread to the White House.
Sudeikis told the Guardian about his recent visit to see Joe Biden in the Oval Office to discuss mental health strategies, where “Believe” was posted above the door.
“It’s crazy, man,” Sudeikis said. “I haven’t even looked at the pictures of the White House because I want it to live on up there for a while as these amazing fireworks instead of being like, ‘Oh man, why was I wearing sneakers?'”