[ Theres one area where Ted Lasso might be sticking a little too
close to the source material – its lack of LGBTQ+ characters.]
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PORTSIDE CULTURE

TED LASSO'S LACK OF LGBTQ+ REPRESENTATION CREATES A PROBLEM ON TWO
FRONTS  
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Ali Griffiths
September 24, 2021
Digital SPy
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_ There's one area where Ted Lasso might be sticking a little too
close to the source material – its lack of LGBTQ+ characters. _

, Apple

 

_TED LASSO_ SEASON 2 SPOILERS FOLLOW.

Ted Lasso's
[[link removed]] BELIEVE
mantra has paid off! Apple TV+'s breakout hit, about a team of
underdogs coached by the ultimate fish out of water, managed to scoop
up seven Emmy Awards this year in a bona fide sweep.

In fact, the love for Ted (the show, the man, and that moustache) is
almost universal. The ensemble sitcom is heartwarming comedy at its
best; it's fun, it artfully resolves its conflicts, and it's set in a
version of London that's part-postcard, part-Richard Curtis rom-com.

And, despite its premise, it also manages to strike a chord with
football fans and non-fans alike. After all, Richmond FC might be
fictional, but plenty of real-life locations will have you
Leo-meme-pointing at the screen.

[ted lasso season 2 jason sudeikis as ted lasso]

APPLE

Unfortunately, there's one area where the show might be sticking a
little too close to the source material – its lack of LGBTQ+
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Sure, there's no shortage of TV that fails on the representation
front, but the absence of queerness in _Ted Lasso_ hits differently.
It mainly feels weird because of the show's own self-styled
progressiveness. Its first season was met with a wave of op-eds and
features celebrating its take on non-toxic masculinity, female
friendships and up-front sweetness.

Not to mention earlier in season two
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the show featured a whole subplot dedicated to an exploitative oil
company using naive Premier League players to advertise its business.

[sam obisanya ted lasso]

APPLE

The lack of LGBTQ+ themes and characters is particularly noticeable
though, because at the end of the day, _Ted Lasso_ is a show about
football, a sport that has long struggled with homophobia on and off
the pitch.

In case you were unaware, there have only ever been a handful of
openly gay professional football players, and there are none currently
playing in the Premier League. The first-ever openly gay pro
footballer was Justin Fashanu, who played for a number of clubs during
his career before publicly coming out in 1991.

Following allegations of assault, and fear around receiving a fair
trial because of the public knowledge of his sexuality, Fashanu died
by suicide in 1998. His niece Amal has since set up the Justin Fashanu
Foundation to tackle homophobia in the sport.

[norwich, united kingdom september 19 norwich city striker justin
fashanu in action at carrow road circa 1981 in norwich, englandphoto
by tony duffyallsportgetty images]

GETTY IMAGES

Perhaps the most common issue around homophobia in football comes from
the stands. Homophobic chants were a mainstay of plenty of Premier
League clubs for decades until they were officially banned by the FA
back in 2007.

In the intervening years, things have definitely improved. A recent
survey by Staffordshire University
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that 93% of football fans would not hold any hostility to a footballer
coming out, and during this year's Euros Championship, plenty of fans
were happy to see teams support Stonewall's Rainbow Laces initiative.

On top of that, plenty of major UK football clubs have LGBTQ+
supporters clubs – including Crystal Palace's Proud and Palace
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There's still plenty of work to do to tackle bigotry in the sport
though – with data from the FA and UK Police Force suggesting that
incidents of hate crime took place at one in 10 football fixtures
during the 2019-2020 football season.

This is all to say that, frankly, it feels odd for a show in 2021 –
set in the world of professional football – to not even attempt to
grapple with such an important issue.

Perhaps this could be forgiven if the show was *only* steering clear
of negative football stereotypes in an attempt to stick to its
relatively harmonious worldview. But that still doesn't justify the
total absence of queer characters. There's really not even one.

[jason sudeikis in ted lasso]

APPLE

At best, there were just a few tiny little morsels that might suggest
some LGBTQ+ subtext. Back in season one's seventh episode, we're given
a very throwaway line from Juno Temple's Keeley, where she implies
she's had some romantic history with women. During a scene where she
misunderstands a conversation with Rebecca, she happily says, "…If
I'm gonna dip my toe back into the lady pool."

There's also a very, very brief joke in season two about Colin not
knowing what Grindr is, and in 'Beard After Hours', Brendan Hunt's
character does end up at something that kind of reads like a trendy
east London LGBTQ+ venue. But honestly, we're embarrassed just
stacking those up. There's scraping the barrel for scraps, and then
there's the above.

It's a problem because, hold on to your hats, LGBTQ+ people exist and
should be on your shows. It's doubly a problem for _Ted Lasso_ and
shows like it because, if you present a chocolate-box version of
London/the world where everything is nice but no one is gay, you're
suggesting that the presence of LGBTQ+ people conflicts with that
image. Whether it's your intention or not, you imply that things might
be better off without us.

[ted lasso season 2 brendan hunt as coach beard, jason sudeikis as ted
lasso and nate mohammed as coach nate]

COLIN HUTTONAPPLE

The problem of omission plagues a lot of genres (see also: science
fiction, where a lack of LGBTQ+ characters suggests a future without
them), but it feels particularly icky in stories that use
'wholesomeness' as part of their shtick.

This is because, historically, marginalised groups have been excluded
from the 'wholesome'. Our queerness isn't seen as family-friendly, or
appropriate, or suitable for all ages. More often than not we're told
that some aspects of queer identity are something to be ashamed of, or
that there is something inherently sordid or sexual about discussing
anything that isn't heterosexuality.

If _Ted Lasso_ wants to hold on to that wholesome self-image while
also being inclusive, it better address that issue ASAP. If it
doesn't, the show risks alienating LGBTQ+ fans even further. After
all, there's only so far the (frankly alarming) magnetism of Brett
Goldstein
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Hannah Waddingham can get you.

_TED LASSO_ IS AVAILABLE ON APPLE TV+
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WITH NEW EPISODES DROPPING WEEKLY.

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