WARNING: This story contains spoilers about Ted Lasso which some readers may prefer to avoid.
Ted Lasso co-creator Brendan Hunt has discussed the importance of featuring a gay player as part of the show's fictional Richmond FC team.
In the latest episode, which premiered on Apple TV+ today, Welsh winger Colin was revealed to be in a relationship with a man called Michael (Sam Liu), whom he later introduces to his teammates as just a friend.
"We've known for a while that Colin was gay," Hunt, who also plays Coach Beard on the show, told the Radio Times. "It was just a matter of when we were going to finally get to that. It's still a taboo in football, but there are more active players who are coming out.
"There was Josh Cavallo in Australia last year, Jakub Jankto in Czech Republic this year, and Jake Daniels at Blackpool. It's just part of what's happening in football.
"We may be a fake football club, but we're trying to show a little bit of football reality here."
He continued: "We knew we would have a gay player on the team. Before season two, it was like, 'OK, well, should we cast that someone?'
"And then we thought, 'Oh no, actually, it'll be better if that person's already on the team and we're not acknowledging it and they're hiding it so well, but there's been no hint of it so far.' That helps demonstrate what this person is going through."
New episodes of Ted Lasso drop on Apple TV+ every Wednesday morning. Sign up to the service by clicking here.
Neil Wilkes
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