'News to Us': Jason Sudeikis and Brendan Hunt Shut Down Joy Behar's Claim She Was Offered a Role on 'Ted Lasso'
Did Joy Behar lie?
On Thursday, January 11, at the Cast of Ted Lasso event at the Kimpton Everly Hotel in L.A., stars of the show Jason Sudeikis and Brendan Hunt spoke on Behar’s claim she was offered a role on the show.
The panel moderator asked the group of actors if The View host’s comment that she had been approached to play Sudeikis' mom in Season 3 of the show was true.
“I, no. Joy Behar from The View?” the 48-year-old actor, who plays Ted Lasso on the program, stated.
“Respectfully, it would be news to us. We just work there,” Hunt chimed in, before Sudeikis added, “She's welcome to sit at the table.”
Behar alleged on the “Behind the Table” podcast that someone reached out to her for the part, but she turned it down.
“You were contacted about the possibility to be on my favorite show of all time,” Brian Teta said to the 81-year-old on the podcast. “You were dismissive of it because it would require you to spend your hiatus in London.”
"It was too hot," she shared. "There was a heat wave going on at that time, like, 100-degree weather, and I'd have to get on a plane and go in the middle of the heat? No. Listen, I'm a writer, I write my own stuff. I don't care about other people's stuff. I don't need to be in everything."
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The conversation with the cast — which also featured Hannah Waddingham, Brett Goldstein, Phil Dunster, Cristo Fernandez, Kola Bokinni, James Lance, and Billy Harris — then spoke about the show’s success, as it was nominated for 21 Emmys in 2023.
"The whole COVID [conversation] was a bit interesting: people say [Ted Lasso] came along just at the right time," Waddingham began. "I actually think it slightly does the show a disservice, because, I think, regardless of the horrific pandemic, it would've done the same thing."
She continued, "I think people were ready for kindness and humor through kindness and joy and the warm hug that it is in general. The beautiful writing and the way every character is fleshed out so beautifully."
She additionally expressed how the series’ characters are unique.
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"You see their yin-yang within themselves and what we find in ourselves by watching it," Waddingham noted. "So I actually think that it would've had this success regardless, because of the joy it brings."