TV comedy series Ted Lasso appears to have taken aim at the government’s “evil” immigration policy.
In scenes remarkably similar to Gary Lineker’s Twitter spat following comments made by Suella Braverman, the latest episode sees a prominent footballer clash with a fictional home secretary, Brinda Barot, over a group of migrants crossing the English channel.
A boat becomes stranded near Portsmouth harbour carrying dozens of refugees, with Ms Barot telling them to “go home”.
The episode, thought to have been written this time last year when Priti Patel was home secretary, sees Ms Barot address the nation, saying: “To anyone attempting to enter our country illegally, I say this. Go home. Britain is closed.”
Sam Obisanya, who plays for AFC Richmond on which the series is based, takes to Twitter calling on Ms Barot to “reconsider her position”.
The right winger, played by Toheeb Jimoh, writes: “Profoundly disturbed by the situation at Portsmouth harbour, I hope Brinda Barot will reconsider her position and help make Britain better than this.”
But Ms Barot replies: “Footballers should leave the politics up to us and just shut up and dribble.”
His restaurant, Ola’s, is later vandalised, with the phrase “shut up and dribble” daubed on the wall.
Mr Obisanya responds to the row saying: “The world is full of evil people who do s****y things, but I can’t deal with that right now because I have to go and kick a little ball around.”
When she was home secretary, Ms Patel became embroiled in a row with England player Tyrone Mings ahead of the European championships. The Aston Villa star accused Ms Patel of “stoking the fire” of racist abuse directed at the England squad.
She said: “I am disgusted that England players who have given so much for our country this summer have been subject to vile racist abuse on social media.
“It has no place in our country and I back the police to hold those responsible accountable.”
Mr Mings replied: “You don’t get to stoke the fire at the beginning of the tournament by labelling our anti-racism message as ‘Gesture Politics’ and then pretend to be disgusted when the very thing we’re campaigning against, happens.”
Tory MP Andrew Rosindell urged the defender to “focus on football, not politics”.
The Conservative party’s deputy chairman Lee Anderson has also clashed with the England squad in the past over their decision to take a knee before matches in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. He refused to watch the team’s run to the Euro 2020 final.
And earlier this year, Gary Lineker was suspended from Match of the Day over comments he made on Twitter in which he likened Ms Braverman’s rhetoric on the government’s plan to deport small boat migrants to Rwanda to that of Germany in the 1930s. He was later reinstated but the row prompted the BBC to review its policy on the social media use of its staff and freelancers.
Ted Lasso is a comedy-drama series created by Jason Sudeikis who plays the eponymous main character. It follows Mr Lasso, an American college football coach, who is hired to coach an English football team.
