As Ted Lasso continues its second season on Apple TV Plus, the comedy series' superlative popularity has led to a wild new theory among fans. Rumors have spread that the character Roy Kent is not played by a real actor, but is instead a CGI creation, with fans highlighting the sharpness of his beard and drawing comparisons to character models in FIFA games.
Now, Brett Goldstein, who portrays Kent on the show, has broken his silence on the matter. The actor posted a video of himself on Twitter to assert that he is a real human being who does "normal human, basic things like rendering and buffering and transferring data."
My final statement on the matter: pic.twitter.com/YPzNnOu4mg
— Brett Goldstein (@brettgoldstein) September 2, 2021
Ted Lasso co-creator Brendan Hunt, who also plays Coach Beard on the show, offered a more tentative statement to CNET.
"I can neither confirm nor deny that if you entered data into an algorithm for 'building the perfect actor' it would produce Brett Goldstein," he said.
To clarify, Goldstein isn't just a real person, but also one of the driving creative forces behind Ted Lasso. The actor also serves as a writer and executive story editor on the series. He is currently nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his performance on the show's first season. Ted Lasso became the most nominated freshman comedy series in Emmys history, garnering 20 nominations including spots in Best Comedy Series and Best Actor in a Comedy Series for star Jason Sudeikis.
In our review of the Season 2 premiere of Ted Lasso, IGN gave the episode a 9, saying that the show "[avoids] the common sophomore slump, retaining and fine-tuning what worked the first time around, while evolving its quirky formula in some welcome ways."
J. Kim Murphy is a freelance entertainment writer.