Donald Trump Revealed to Be the Inspiration Behind ‘Ted Lasso’

In a new interview, actor Jason Sudeikis revealed that one of the major moments of modern American political history had something to do with the development of a character called Ted Lasso, who eventually developed into the star of the series “Ted Lasso.”

Sudeikis said that in 2015, he was debating with then-wife Olivia Wilde how to adapt the character, who he had created two years before, in a new direction and perhaps take his career along with it, according to The Guardian. From slightly belligerent, the character became nice through and through.

“It was the culture we were living in. I’m not terribly active online and it even affected me. Then you have 👤Donald Trump coming down the escalator,” he said, referring to Trump’s June 2015 announcement that he would run for president.

“I was like, ‘OK, this is silly,’ and then what he unlocked in people… I hated how people weren’t listening to one another. Things became very binary and I don’t think that’s the way the world works,” he said.

There was another reason for stressing nice, he said.

“And, as a new parent — we had our son Otis in 2014 — it was like, ‘Boy, I don’t want to add to this.’ Yeah, I just didn’t want to portray it,” he said.

Sudeikis said there is significance to AFC Richmond, the British soccer team the character of Lasso coaches.

“Richmond is, metaphorically, like a form of utopia. And yet it has to honor the fact that not everywhere else outside that utopia is utopian. And so, how would you deal with these conflicts?” he said.