What You Missed From Ted Lasso & Trent Crimm's White House Moment

If you saw the entire Ted Lasso cast doing a White House press briefing in character as you scrolled through your timeline, don’t fret: you haven’t entered the multi-verse. The press briefing actually happened, complete with a question from none other than the intrepid, albeit fictional, reporter Trent Crimm of The Independent. The cast of the award-winning Apple TV+ series — including Jason Sudeikis, co-creator Brendan Hunt, writer Brett Goldstein, Toheeb Jimoh (who plays Sam), and Hannah Waddingham (who plays Rebecca), among others — made a pit stop in the White House press briefing room before going into a private meeting with President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden to talk about mental health and what this administration is doing to raise awareness and efforts around it.

Ted Lasso, a dramedy about a haplessly optimistic American football coach taking over a Premier League soccer team amidst his own divorce, often addresses mental health topics, whether it’s depicting panic attacks onscreen or destigmatizing therapy, especially for men and men of color (talking about feelings isn’t just for Diamond Dogs). Sudeikis, in character, said at the briefing, according to Complex, “While it’s easier said than done, we also have to know that we shouldn’t be afraid to ask for help ourselves. That does take a lot, especially when it’s something that has such a negative stigma to it, such as mental health, and it doesn’t need to be that way. And if you can ask for that help from a professional, fantastic. If it needs to be a loved one, equally as good, in a lot of ways.”

That was all well and good, but it was Trent Crimm, played by James Lance, who stole the show. He asked Sudeikis, now in character as Lasso, how he felt about Kansas City (Lasso’s hometown) being on the list of possible cities for the 2026 World Cup.

This was delightful enough on its own, but it also provides a perfect story arc for Crimm, who told Lasso in the Season 2 finale that he was leaving The Independent and moving on from journalism. But now, here he is right in the thick of it all in Washington D.C., meaning maybe Ted grew on him more than he initially thought. In any case, seeing Crimm doing his thing with the rest of the Richmond crew just felt right.