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The White House press briefing with the Ted Lasso cast descended into chaos on Monday before it even began when a disruptive reporter berated Karine Jean-Pierre for not taking questions from him.
Jason Sudeikis was set to discuss mental health with the co-stars from the award-winning show when Today News Africa correspondent Simon Ateba started shouting at President Biden’s press secretary.
‘You’re making a mockery of the First Amendment … It’s been seven months and you have not called on me,’ he said to the press secretary while the cast looked on in bemusement.
‘You’ve been discriminating against me and discrimination against some people in the briefing,’ he shouted while other members of the press and Sudeikis – along with the stars of the AppleTV+ show – looked on.
‘This is not China, this is not Russia,’ he added as reporters then interjected and told him they were fed up with his conduct. Jean-Pierre has frequently admonished Ateba in the past, but this time journalists in the room demanded he quiet himself so that the day’s event – the only on-record interaction with senior White House officials – could begin.
‘You are impinging on everybody in here who’s only trying to do their job,’ reporter Brian Karem said and another correspondent said: ‘The rest of us are here too, pal’.
The White House press briefing with the Ted Lasso cast descended into chaos on Monday when a reporter berated Karine Jean-Pierre for not taking questions from him
Jason Sudeikis appeared to discuss mental health with the co-stars from the award-winning show when Today News Africa correspondent Simon Ateba (middle) started berating President Biden’s press secretary
Ateba’s outburst came before Jean-Pierre or the celebrities she arrayed behind her even had a chance to speak.
When it was all done, Sudeikis told DailyMail.com outside the West Wing when asked about the upheaval in the briefing room: ‘Tough gig on both sides. I get it. High stakes.’
Jean-Pierre tried to talk over Ateba, who has interrupted her multiple times in the past, as he was shouting: ‘No. No. No. No. No. We’re not doing this. We’re not doing this,’ she intoned while raising her finger.
Turning to Sudeikis, she joked, ‘Welcome to the press briefing room.’
‘Are we ready? Are we going to behave,’ Jean-Pierre said after allowing for a long pause.
After Ateba interrupted again, individual reporters urged him to stop. ‘Decorum, please,’ said NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell, a longtime reporter and members of the White House Correspondents’ Association.
Ateba has received multiple complaints and the White House Correspondents Association have warned him about his behavior. The group regularly provides updates on ‘decorum’ in its outreach to members.
The White House who controls press credentials for the building.
Looking on awkwardly for the entire exchange were Sudeikis – who has played Biden on ‘Saturday Night Live, Hannah Waddingham, Brett Goldstein, Brendan Hunt and Toheeb Jimoh.
Only after the tense confrontation was Sudeikis able to speak. He and the cast of ‘Ted Lasso’ were spotted going into the White House residence before the event. He made a brief pitch about mental health.
‘No matter who you are … we all know someone … that’s struggled that’s felt isolated that’s felt anxious that’s felt alone,’ he said.
Hannah Waddingham told DialyMail.com that President Biden did not mention the lively exchange when the cast met with him about mental health issues.
He said they spoke about ‘health and well being and well-being and how we have to pull everything with us to make a change. He said the president brought up his late son Beau Biden and ‘was very vocal about it, and that encourages you to be vocal.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby then came to the podium to discuss the meeting between Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, and Ateba tried to step in again.
Later in the briefing, an Associated Press White House Correspondent apologized on behalf of the press, telling Jean-Pierre: ‘This isn’t about us’.
Ateba spoke out loud again, but not yelling this time. ‘The American people wants you to be fair to everybody,’ he said.
Jean-Pierre circled back to deliver her point later. ‘What I will not appreciate is disrespecting your colleagues and disrespecting guests who are here to talk about an incredibly important issue, which is mental health,’ she said. ‘What has just occurred this last 10 or 15 minutes is unacceptable.’
Sudeikis, who plays Coach Ted Lasso, managed to get in a statement about mental health after the first interruption.
‘The big theme of the show is to check in with your neighbor, your coworker, your friends, your family, and ask how they are doing, and listen, sincerely,’ Sudeikis said.
‘You all ask questions for a living, but you all listen for a living. So who am I preaching to? The choir, that is.’
He added, ‘And while it is easier said that done, we also have to know that we shouldn’t be afraid to ask for help ourselves.’
Cast members Brett Goldstein, Hannah Waddingham, Brendan Hunt and Toheeb Jimoh were standing either side of the podium.
Jason Sudeikis, who plays Coach Lasso, managed to get in a statement about mental health
Sudeikis is flanked by fellow Ted Lasso cast members Brett Goldstein and Hannah Waddingham as he embraces Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre
‘Check in with your neighbor, your coworker, your friends, your family and ask how they’re doing. And listen sincerely’, Sudeikis told the briefing room
Jean-Pierre admonished Ateba: ‘We’re not doing this. We’re not doing this’
The real life chaos came before actor James Lance, who plays journalist Trent Crimm on the ‘Ted Lasso’ show, asked the one and only question of Sudeikis
The tense confrontation came at what the White House set up to be a light-hearted moment, albeit on a serious topic. Jean-Pierre previously hosted members of the K-Pop band BTS, although the group announced it was taking a hiatus soon after their visit.
It even featured a moment with British actor James Lance, who plays journalist Trent Crimm on the show, standing among reporters to ask a question of Sudeikas.
The confrontation came days after Ateba appeared on Fox News opinion host Tucker Carlson’s show. The host called him ‘one of the best in the business.’ He told the host he was losing his membership in the correspondents’ assocation,
‘They refuse to renew my membership,’ he said, accusing the group of trying to ‘censor’ him for doing the right thing.
Ateba announced he would appear on the show again Monday night.
It was just the latest in a series of confrontations for Ateba inside the briefing room.
During Jean-Pierre predecessor Jen Psaki’s final briefing, he shouted out ‘will you take a question from the back of the room?’ – interrupting colleagues as well as Psaki.
‘Simon, please stop,’ said ABC’s Mary Bruce.
‘If you can spread the questions from across the room and all of us at the back of the room,’ shouted Ateba.
The most recent article posted on Ateba’s News Africa web site is dated February 16 and consists of three paragraphs It cites an International Monetary Fund press release about the date of a spring meeting of the IMF and the World Bank Group.
In a recent tweet he ran photos of WHCA members and indicated he is suing.
‘I am not calling what is happening to me yet racism,’ he wrote.
WHCA President Tamara Keith of National Public Radio wrote fellow reporters Monday about the ‘extreme breakdown of decorum.’
‘What happened today created a hostile work environment for everyone in that room,’ she wrote, calling on colleagues to behave in a ‘professional manner’ and pointing to a fact sheet pointing out that the White House Press Office and the Secret Service control access to the building and the briefing room.
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