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At the recent premiere for Ted Lasso season two, the star’s show, Jason Sudeikis, wore an eye-catching sweatshirt (pictured above, alongside Tim Cook). It bore the words ‘Jadon & Marcus & Bukayo’ – the names of the three England players who suffered a deluge of racist abuse after missing penalties in the European Championship final. He told British Vogue how it all came about.

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.”

Jason Sudeikis (pictured above) is the August cover star for GQ. In the accompanying feature, he reflects on “landing like an Avenger” following upset in his personal life and his time on SNL. He also reveals how his castmates think he is similar to Ted Lasso.

After a while, every time he tried to wave off Ted, fellow castmates or old friends of his would correct him to say: “No.” They’d say: “No, that is you. That is you. That’s not the best version of you.” It’s not you on mushrooms, it’s not you hanging off a boat, it’s just…you. One of Sudeikis’s friends, Marcus Mumford, who composed the music for the show, told me, “He is quite like Ted in lots of ways. He has a sort of burning optimism, but also a vulnerability, about him that I really admire.” Hearing people say this, over and over again, Sudeikis said, “brought me to a very emotional space where, you know, a healthy dose of self-love was allowed to expand through my being and made me…”

Jon Stewart’s return is set to be filmed in front of a live audience. Episodes of the Apple TV+ series will be recorded in New York on July 14 and 16, Deadline reported.

It is the latest “late-night” show to shoot in front of an audience after the likes of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel Live! brought back audiences. The Apple TV+ series will require attendees to be fully vaccinated, provide an official vaccination card and complete a wellness screening prior to entering. Audiences and crew members will be required to wear masks at all times. The show, which launches this fall, is a one-hour current affairs format with a single issue topic explored in each episode.

Misha Green, creator of Lovecraft Country signed an overall deal with Apple last week. She will develop projects for TV+, reported Variety.

Green is also known for co-creating and executive producing the WGN America series “Underground,” on which she was also co-showrunner. The critically-acclaimed series followed men and women in pre-Civil War America who fought for their freedom on the Underground Railroad. Jurnee Smollett-Bell collaborated with Green on both “Underground” and “Lovecraft Country.” The deal with Apple reunites her with Apple’s heads of worldwide video Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht, who previously ran “Underground” producer Sony Pictures Television, as well as Apple’s head of programming Matt Cherniss, who was president and general manager of WGN America and Tribune Studios.

[Image credit: Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com]