Jason Sudeikis reveals how Donald Trump inspired Ted Lasso

Jason Sudeikis in Ted Lasso. Photo / Supplied

Jason Sudeikis has admitted Donald Trump inspired him to change the character of Ted Lasso.

The 47-year-old star had created his alter ego for a comedy sketch in 2013, but two years later he contemplated developing the “belligerent” sports coach further and wanted to make him a nicer person in response to the negative attitudes “unlocked” by the former Apprentice star during his successful run for presidency.

Sudeikis explained to The Observer magazine: “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. 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.

“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.”

Sudeikis - who has son Otis, 9, and daughter Daisy, 6, with former partner Olivia Wilde - and his Ted Lasso co-stars visited the White House in March but he admitted he was much calmer than the rest of the group because of his experiences portraying former president George W. Bush and the current commander-in-chief, Joe Biden, on Saturday Night Live.

A special prosecutor has ended his four-year investigation into possible FBI misconduct in its probe of ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Photo / AP

He said: “I’d been in a fake Oval Office a number of times, and so there’s a little bit of me that’s nonplussed by it and just holding my s*** together.

“And I’d met the president when he was vice president and he’s a very warm guy.

“It’s like meeting your good friend’s father or your young friend’s grandfather. He just makes you feel at home and that home just happened to be the White House for that afternoon.”

The Horrible Bosses actor hasn’t yet looked back on the pictures from the visit because he has such good memories of the day that he wants to preserve.

Host Jason Sudeikis as 2013 Vice President Joe Biden and James Austin Johnson as 2023 President Joe Biden during the "Biden Meeting" Cold Open. Photo / Getty Images

He said: “It’s nuts, man. I haven’t even looked at the pictures of the White House yet because I want it to just live up there for a while as this amazing firework show rather than saying, ‘Oh, boy, why did I wear sneakers?’

“Haha, on the day I got a text from my mom saying, ‘Make sure you don’t wear sneakers to the White House.’ I was like, ‘Too late, Mom.’”