Jason Sudeikis shows his support for English footballers who are victims of racial violence

“Ted Lasso” star Jason Sudeikis showed his solidarity with three England soccer players who have been the targets of racist abuse on social media, arriving at a premiere event Thursday in a black sweatshirt with their names on them.

All three players – Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho – have been hit by a wave of racist harassment after missing their penalties for England in the Euro 2020 football final on Sunday. The flood of offensive comments drew international attention.

Sudeikis, posing for photos Thursday at an event celebrating the upcoming second season of “Ted Lasso,” wore a sweatshirt that read “Saka & Sancho & Rashford” in bold white type.

Roger Bennett, co-host of the NBC show and podcast “Men in Blazers,” expressed his admiration for Sudeikis in a tweet.

“A great love for Jason Sudeikis’ sweatshirt in the first episode of season 2 of Ted Lasso”, Bennett tweeted. “Shows that, like his character, he truly understands that football in his heart is all about human kindness.”

Saka, Rashford and Sancho have received a wave of support from other players, sports fans and English schoolchildren in recent days. In the city of Manchester, a mural of Rashford was disfigured but then quickly covered in paper hearts and loving letters to the player.

In one Twitter post, Rashford apologized for missing his penalty kick, but insisted he “will never apologize for who I am and where I come from”.

Sudeikis, who co-created “Ted Lasso,” stars in the Apple TV + comedy as the happy American football coach who was recruited to coach an English Premier League football team. The actor won an Emmy nomination for his performance this week – one of 20 nods for the show.

The show’s first season, A Slumber During the Covid-19 pandemic, follows the main character as he wins over the players and the team owner with his relentlessly optimistic demeanor.

The second season premieres July 23.