Ted Lasso is Back with Surprising Nods to Black Culture

“Ted Lasso” is officially back for its fourth season. While familiar characters made their grand return to the show in the premiere episode on Wednesday, there were a handful of surprising nods to Black culture that delighted fans.

For those who haven’t watched the series —”Ted Lasso” is a show about soccer (or football, as they call it in London, where the show is centered). The majority of the cast is white, and there are very few Black actors or actors of color on it. Black audiences also only make up about eight percent of the show’s viewership, according to streaming data company PeerLogix. However, the show has addressed issues of race and ethnicity in past seasons, including in its “The String That Binds Us” episode from season three.

In it, Nigerian player Sam Obinsanya speaks out against the government’s decision to bar refugees from entering the country. After making a social media post about it and being told to “shut up and dribble” by an official, this prompts racists to vandalize Obinsanya’s Nigerian restaurant, and the episode explores the emotional toll it takes on him and the team.

However, the first episode of season four has more Black cultural spice.

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The first comes near the top of the show after Lasso (played by Jason Sudeikis) is called into the principal’s office at his preteen son Henry’s school to discuss a “disturbing” poem he wrote in the back of one of his notebooks. By the time he and his child’s mother got there and heard the poem that their son had written, they had to stifle their laughter while listening to the words. The joke here? Their son’s “poem” was actually him just writing down the lyrics to Public Enemy’s 1988 song, “Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos.”

“How do you get to be a principal without knowing the lyrics of Public Enemy?” the mom questions.

Says Lasso, “I reckon most antiquated institutions ain’t too keen on encouraging folks to ‘fight the power’ these days.”

The second scene comes after Lasso watches his Henry play his soccer game after school and decides to have a quick chat with his son’s coach to see why he took Henry out of the game, despite him being the best player on the team. Though initially hesitant, as he felt “coaches and dads sometimes have conflicting jobs,” he tried to initiate a friendly conversation with the coach before quickly being shut down.

After the coach essentially says that it’s annoying when parents meddle in their kid’s business, Lasso (a successful men’s soccer coach himself back in London) quipped: “I’m not sure Tina Knowles would agree with you, but I hear what you’re saying.”

Tina Knowles? As in Beyoncé’s mom? Ted Lasso: are you in the Beyhive?

The third, and perhaps most impactful scene, takes place after Lasso’s former London coworkers come to his hometown of Kansas City. When one of them, Leslie Higgins, isn’t able to visit the Jazz Museum, he instead opts to go inside the adjacent Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. There he’s exposed to the history of the league and players who broke barriers and made history, like Satchel Paige. Likening his talents to “Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, and Louis Armstrong all rolled into one,” the very British and very uneducated Higgins is enamored and ultimately moved by what he learned, calling the men immortal.

After seeing the embrace of Black history, fans were quick to praise the show for the cultural nods.

“First ep of Ted Lasso S4 and there’s a scene in the Negro Leagues museum, and here I am, crying (happy) at 10pm,” wrote one user on Threads.

“The tribute to Satchel Paige and the Negro Leagues on Ted Lasso season 4 premiere is amazing,” said another.

Added another, “I love that Ted Lasso (and Jason Sudekis) essentially turned Season 4, Ep. 1 into a love-letter to his home, Kansas City. Really love the segment with Higgins and the Negro League Museum. Now I want to visit Kansas City! *chef’s kiss*.”