Washington (EFE).- The cast of “Ted Lasso”, a comedy about the world of soccer, has teamed up with US President Joe Biden to promote access to mental health care and end the stigma around those who suffer from these diseases.
The actors of “Ted Lasso” will meet this Monday with the president and the first lady, Jill Biden, to talk about the “importance” of mental health and how essential it is to promote “well-being” among Americans, detailed the House White.
As the meeting will be behind closed doors, Jason Sudeikis, the star of “Ted Lasso”, and other actors made an appearance in the White House press room to give details of the meeting shortly before it took place.
“It is truly an honor to visit the White House to speak with the president and the first lady about mental health,” Sudeikis said from the side of the press room.
From screens to “real life”
Sudeikis highlighted the importance of being able to talk openly about mental health and eliminating the negative image that society has of people with these diseases.
“No matter who you are, where you live, who you voted for, we all probably know someone who has felt isolated, felt anxiety or felt lonely. Or even ourselves. And believe it or not, that’s one of the things we all have in common as human beings,” Sudeikis said.
For this reason, the actor spoke about how necessary it is to open a dialogue at the national level about mental illnesses and that everyone can talk about it with their family and friends, as well as with specialized professionals.
Behind Sudeikis in the press room were actress Hannah Waddingham (Rebecca Welton in the series), as well as Brett Goldstein (Roy Kent), Toheeb Jimoh (Sam Obisanya) and Brendan Hunt, who plays Coach Beard, who is the hand Ted Lasso’s right hand in the series.
The series has addressed the issue of mental health primarily through the character played by Sudeikis, a soccer coach seeking therapy after dealing with panic attacks.
Speculation about the cast’s visit to the White House began Sunday night when Biden tweeted a photo of a yellow sign with blue letters and the word: “BELIEVE” (Create, in Spanish), which was placed right above a from the doors of the Oval Office of the White House.
That sign is the same as one Lasso has in the locker room office of the AFC Richmond football team.
The “Ted Lasso” series, which has won 11 Emmy Awards, began airing its third season on AppleTV+ last week.
Mental health at the center
Biden has made mental health one of his priorities. In fact, he devoted much of his State of the Union address to Congress on that issue and called on the country to do more to help those who suffer from it, especially teenagers.
According to a poll last year by CNN and the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), nine out of ten Americans believe the country is experiencing a mental health crisis.