You can always count on Ted Lasso to go for the feel-good outcome. Episode three of the new season may have supplied the most controversial and uplifting storyline yet, as Toheeb Jimoh‘s character, Sam Obisanya, makes a principled stand against the team’s powerful sponsor.
Instead of being roiled by his actions, both his fellow players and the team’s leadership rally around Sam, even if doing so comes with a high cost. In real life, we’ve witnessed athletes like Sam become isolated and ostracized after staking out moral positions, sparking conflict with management and some fans, and occasionally seeing their careers suffer drastically as a result.
Ted Lasso delivered the optimistic outcome to that scenario, but Jimoh spoke with Vanity Fair about what might have happened if Sam hadn’t received such staunch support.
Vanity Far: It’s quite a journey we go on with Sam in this episode. At the beginning, he’s ecstatic to become the face of the ad campaign for Dubai Air, which is the team sponsor. Let’s start there with what that meant for a player like him at that point in his life and career.
Toheeb Jimoh: The nature of his character is he isn’t necessarily the guy that would be the poster boy for the team or for any ad campaign. So the fact that he’s chosen is just brilliant. He’s somebody so humble and usually not in the lime light, so the fact that he gets the opportunity is amazing. He is taking on some of those leadership roles and growing into himself as a young man and as a player.
Then the story takes a turn, but Sam still gets to show he’s a leader.
He gets a text from his dad and finds out that Dubai Air isn’t isn’t something he can get behind. Nobody knows that Dubai Air is owned by this oil corporation that’s doing horrible things in Nigeria. It’s that moment where you get everything you kind of have always wanted, but then you’re like, ah … is it worth it?
We don’t see Sam’s father, just read his messages. But tell me about the relationship between those two.
Even though they’re not in the same country, it’s the type of relationship where everything he does is to make his dad proud—and his dad’s already proud. It’s one of those relationships where it doesn’t matter how much money you send it back home or whatever, the fact that he’s doing something that he loves is enough for his dad.
Fathers are major theme of the show this season. Ted chooses to re-hire Jamie Tartt because he realizes that Sam had a good father who encouraged and uplifted him, and Jamie didn’t.
It highlights that not everybody has that. This season is about the relationship between men—young men and older men, and, Jamie’s relationship with his dad is very different than Sam’s relationship with his dad and even their relationship to Ted is also a bit like a parental figure. That’s the Ted effect. Not everybody has those positive role models in their life. And so you do have to forgive people and try and help them through that.
Sam goes to Rebecca and Keeley, and the team management, and says he wants to withdraw from the ad campaign. Do you think that was hard for him, or was there really no other choice?
What’s difficult about making a stand like that is not necessarily even the decision—it’s the fallout. If I go to Rebecca’s office and go, I can’t do this ad campaign, now Rebecca has to say no to the head of some oil company. And that’s going to come with its own ramifications. Someone like Sam probably doesn’t want to cause a fuss. He doesn’t want to get anybody in trouble. He doesn’t want to get himself in trouble, but this is also something that he kind of stand back. His integrity takes priority over all of that.
He’s not just asking them to let him off the campaign, but asking them to stand with him in some ways, right?
The thing is, Sam probably wouldn’t even ask them to do anything. But the hope is that by saying it’s okay, you stand with me. And that’s what they ultimately decide to do
What do you think would have happened if they had said, “No, you have to do this. You’ve committed to it.” What do you think Sam might have done at that point?
Oh man. Um, I guess that’s the worst case scenario, isn’t it? After he gets that message from his dad, there is absolutely no way in hell he does that [campaign.] You’re talking about a company that’s making it impossible for people to live in his home country. It’s destroying people’s homes. And it’s not a made-up storyline either. Some of this stuff does happen in Nigeria. People have been fighting for reparations, for land that they’ve lost, for job opportunities that they’ve lost and it’s just making life hell for people. So regardless of whether Rebecca and Keeley had said, “No, sorry, unfortunately you have to do it,” I think that’s a hill Sam would have been willing to die on. And rightfully so.
If it had cost him his place on the team or hurt his career, you think he would have kept going?
I have to believe that. It’s probably funny because at some point, if it was going to cost him his career, his dad probably would have just told him to get on with it—but Sam’s very righteous. I feel like if it means he’d have to go and play for a different team, then he will go and play for a different team.
That’s what makes Sam such a great player, isn’t it? That integrity.
Yeah, and that’s what makes him a great person. “If I have to go somewhere else to play, and even if I don’t play anymore, I will do it.” I think that’s matters more than anything else. Even if it cost you your career, do something that you will be proud of. How do you go to sleep at night knowing that you were still playing, wearing Dubai Air on your shirt, knowing what that represents?
This is a real phenomenon. In American football, Colin Kaepernick made a principled stand about police brutality and he paid a very high price career-wise for that. Do you think there’s a parallel between stories like his, football players who kneel as a sign of protest, and the Ted Lasso story of Sam putting a strip of tape over the Dubai Air logo on his uniform?
We also have a similar thing in the U.K. where players are choosing to take the knee now. Players delving into politics and helping support their communities has become a big thing. I massively stand behind that. I massively stand behind the idea of people using their platforms to uplift the communities that they come from. I think that’s the point of all of it. Sam choosing Nigerian communities over Dubai Air makes sense to me. And it matters. That’s the decision he should make, and that’s the decision I would make in that situation.
In the press conference after the game, Ted tells reporters that the Dubai Air controversy and the company’s behavior in Nigeria are things the they would look past if not for Sam’s demonstration. How did you feel about his remarks there?
I love Ted as a character, and I love what he represents in that moment, which is just allyship. For any Black athlete speaking out on stuff that matters like that, the difficult thing is looking around and wondering who will support you. It would be so much easier for the higher ups in the organization to just turn their backs on you and not get involved, and to not have the ugly conversation. But to have that support and to have that allyship in that moment means everything. That’s why I loved the episode so much.
The other players also stand with Sam. They put tape over the Dubai Air logo on their own jerseys, so he isn’t alone. The team has been on a tie streak. They lose the game this time, but they celebrate it like a victory. Why is that?
Sam does what Sam does, but when it goes back into the locker room and we’ve lost the game, nobody really cares because at the end of the day, we’ve done something that’s much more important than a football match to everyone. And I think that that speaks volumes. I’m really proud of that.
You were born and raised in the UK, but your parents are Nigerian. So did this storyline have special meaning for you?
I was born and raised in the UK. I did live in Nigeria for a little bit. Both my parents are from Nigeria. We went back to Nigeria when we were kids and stayed there for a little bit. My earliest memories are in Nigeria, and we came back when I was seven. That’s why stuff like this is especially resonant to me. I’m a young, British actor, but my culture is Nigerian, and Nigeria means a lot to me. I’m proud that I get to represent Nigerians on screen, especially when it comes to this episode. We get to look out for Nigeria a little bit and maybe even like shine a light on those people who are still in the middle of a lawsuit, trying to get money off of these oil companies from basically destroying their land.
After this episode, what’s on the horizon for your character?
Ahhh, there’s a lot of juicy stuff coming for young Sam, which is great for me! I’m just really happy that the creative team are choosing to trust me with more stuff to do. You’re going to see Sam grow a little bit more. You get to see Sam the person a bit more this season, and not just Sam the player. I think people are going to enjoy it. Exciting stuff!
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