The return of the Cannes Film Festival gave fashion fans their first real taste of a traditional red carpet since before the pandemic, but the most talked-about A-list outfit of last week made its relatively low-key entrance some 6,000 miles from the Croisette – the simple crew-neck sweater sported by Ted Lasso actor Jason Sudeikis at the season two premiere of the football comedy series in LA.
Why was it that Sudeikis’s jumper spread more quickly on social media than Bella Hadid’s head-turning Schiaparelli Haute Couture? The slogan on the front: Jadon & Marcus & Bukayo. It was, of course, a reference to the three gifted Black footballers subjected to racial abuse online in the wake of England’s heartbreaking Euro 2020 defeat to Italy a week ago at Wembley.
After missing spot kicks in the penalty shootout that decided the game, Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford – the Manchester United player who campaigned for free school meals for vulnerable children during lockdown – and Bukayo Saka were bombarded with hateful messages online – despite being part of a team that has given England its best ever result in a European Championship. The young and diverse England squad had also taken a clear stand against racism from the start of the tournament, with players taking the knee before each match despite boos from the crowds in the early stages. Their peaceful protest against “discrimination, injustice and inequality” was “personally important to the players and the values the team collectively represents”, the Football Association said at the time.
Sudeikis, who has a special connection with English football thanks to his role as Ted Lasso – a college-level American football coach who finds himself in charge of a Premier League soccer team – had admired the Three Lions’ stance on taking the knee. “That was them leading by example, that’s leading from the front,” he tells British Vogue.
Sudeikis, who says he was sadly unsurprised by the vitriol directed at the Black players following England’s defeat, points to a lack of action from major social media platforms. “Until the folks that run these companies step up and handle their effect on the world, they’re going to continue to infect the world with their apathy,” he says. “Because, right now, until they do, the anonymous Twitter/Instagram/Facebook avatar is just the new Klan hood.”
England’s manager Gareth Southgate, former team captains and the Duke of Cambridge were among those who publicly condemned the abuse directed at the players, and fans rushed to cover a mural in Rashford’s hometown of Withington that was defaced after the match with paper hearts and messages of support. Sudeikis’s appearance at the Ted Lasso premiere underlined the fact that the groundswell of support for Saka, Rashford and Sancho extended well beyond the UK.
The actor had the top made himself, he tells British Vogue. “The idea struck me the day before our show’s premiere,” says Sudeikis. “I just felt it was necessary to use the platform of our big, fancy ‘worldwide premiere’ to try and personify our show’s support of those three young men,” he says. “Which is why I chose to put their three first names on the sweatshirt. The names their parents gave them.”
“As we say back home in Kansas City, ‘You gotta dance with the one that bought ya’,” says the Hollywood star of his unlikely England fan status. “The country has welcomed us and our production with open arms, hearts and minds. As well as bestowing us with so many of the kind, talented, and hard-working people that work on the show. Plus, I fuckin’ love that Phil Foden kid.”
