https://www.thedailybeast.com/kyrsten-sinema-cosplays-ted-lasso-with-mitt-romney-amid-biden-bill-drama

Romney dressing up as Coach Lasso (https://twitter.com/MittRomney/status/1453704425109868544) and Sinema portraying cold-hearted owner Rebecca Welton (https://twitter.com/MittRomney/status/1453752691868438533) for Halloween was met with criticism since it came amid negotiations to pass President Biden's signature social spending package. Some compared Romney's tweets to a porn parody of Ted Lasso (https://uproxx.com/tv/mitt-romney-ted-lasso-halloween-costume/). One political reporter noted that Sinema was "playing a character who tries to tank her own team," which she's been accused of doing with the Democratic plan. Meanwhile, Romney tweeted (https://twitter.com/MittRomney/status/1453779851064881153): "After 10 years, I’m finally returning the favor. How was my @TedLasso, @JasonSudeikis?" The @TedLasso Twitter account and @JasonSudeikis -- which never tweets -- have yet to respond to Romney.

Mitt Romney and Kyrsten Sinema weaponized Ted Lasso for political gains (https://www.avclub.com/mitt-romney-and-kyrsten-sinema-s-ted-lasso-cosplay-is-t-1847958046)

The controversial U.S. senators' Halloween cosplay (https://twitter.com/MittRomney/status/1453752691868438533) is the latest in a "rocky year for Ted Lasso fans," says Matt Schimkowitz. "We all hate this kind of petty pandering that politicians play into," says Schimkowitz. "The 'Pokémon Go To Polls-ification' of American politics is shamefully disrespectful to all the people currently being crushed by the systemic oppression of our government. Great, you watched a TV. How very human of you. Even worse, weaponizing a show that focuses its emotional core on empathy for the political gains of two people that are currently making everyone’s lives worse is a real slap in the face. To put it more elegantly, this sucks. Anyway, enjoy being haunted by these photos. It sucks, and we hate it and think you will too. Sure, this is a bit of a political post on an entertainment website, but I’m sure both sides of the aisle can agree, we adults do not want our politicians using pop culture to convince us that they’re actual people. Ted Lasso may never recover, and honestly, if this is what people get out of the show, maybe it shouldn’t."

ALSO:


Seth Meyers accuses Mitt Romney and Kyrsten Sinema of ruining Ted Lasso (https://www.thedailybeast.com/seth-meyers-drags-mitt-romney-and-kyrsten-sinema-for-ruining-ted-lasso): “Man, you know you’re unpopular when you can single-handedly ruin one of America’s favorite TV shows,” Meyers said on Late Night of the U.S. senators' Ted Lasso Halloween cosplay. “This is like when Rudy Giuliani ran out of the White House bathroom with his pants around his ankles George Costanza-style.” Meyers added that all this “just proves once again that we desperately need Roy Kent in Congress....because that character makes me want to ‘f***ing puke.’”
Why are two of the most controversial U.S. senators cosplaying as nice people? (https://www.salon.com/2021/10/28/mitt-romney-ted-lasso-kyrsten-sinema-costume/): "The irony of their supposed, feel-good, 'across the aisle' friendship is that Romney's own policy stances could have Sinema, who is openly bisexual, removed from her job," says Kylie Cheung, adding: "Arguably in some ways, Romney and Sinema reflect the worst traits of the characters they're dressed as. There's Romney's almost compulsive need to be liked by everyone, from anti-Trump Republicans and some liberals, as demonstrated by his pro-impeachment vote, to the most intolerant wings of the Republican party, as demonstrated by nearly all his policy stances. And as for Sinema, you'll recall how Rebecca spent the entire first season of Ted Lasso sabotaging her own team. Well, Sinema, in real life, has spent the past year sabotaging her own political party."


Mitt Romney keeps tweeting footage of him dressed as Ted Lasso for Halloween -- after quoting Friday Night Lights (https://www.si.com/soccer/2021/10/28/mitt-romney-ted-lasso-quotes-halloween)

"If you believe in yourself, and have clear eyes and full hearts—you can’t lose," the Republican U.S. senator representing Utah tweeted (https://twitter.com/MittRomney/status/1453704425109868544) in a GIF of him tapping a "BELIEVE" sign. After the mistake, Romney kept posting clips of him as Ted Lasso, including one of him handing biscuits to Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (https://twitter.com/MittRomney/status/1453752691868438533).

Jason Sudeikis indicates he isn't a fan of Mitt Romney's Ted Lasso costume (https://tvline.com/2021/10/29/ted-lasso-mitt-romney-halloween-costume-jason-sudeikis-response/)

Sudeikis, who played Romney on SN (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrsUFF7FAOw)L, has been liking numerous tweets (https://twitter.com/jasonsudeikis/likes) of people dressed as Coach Lasso for Halloween, including Ryan Seacrest (https://twitter.com/RyanSeacrest/status/1454085277559844871). But Sudeikis has yet to like any of Romney's tweets (https://twitter.com/MittRomney/status/1453779851064881153) as Lasso from Thursday. Sudeikis also liked former SNL writer/producer Alex Baze's tweet in response to Romney: “The scariest thing he could think of was kindness.” (https://twitter.com/bazecraze/status/1453770768362397700)

Mitt Romney and Kyrsten Sinema's Ted Lasso Halloween cosplay is still baffling three weeks later (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/17/magazine/kyrsten-sinema-mitt-romney-ted-lasso.html)

"Openly mocking the people who didn’t vote for you is, lately, just something politicians do, but I confess that this one caught me off-guard," says Jeremy Gordon of the pre-Halloween Twitter bit between the two senators (https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/28/politics/mitt-romney-ted-lasso-kyrsten-sinema/index.html). "Romney’s self-flattering comparison to a TV character for whom 'kill them with kindness' is a mantra, his genuflecting recognition of Sinema as a deciding figure in a process that will determine the future of the country, the folksy appeal to bipartisan deal-making — typing all this, and even just thinking about it, fires off irritating klaxons inside my brain." Gordon adds: "That all this revolved around Ted Lasso added another layer to the performance. This layer may have been partly unintentional, as I would wager that Romney, a 74-year-old grandfather of 25, is not dialed into the rhythms of online discourse. (A separate tweet introducing his costume referred to 'clear eyes and full hearts,' a slogan from a totally different show about a totally different coach.) But Ted Lasso has become the mascot for a certain strain of upbeat liberalism, the sort impressed by catchy signs at the Women’s March and doing the right thing at all times. This is part of what made Romney’s costuming specifically vexing: Imagine Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez donning the clothes of the American Sniper hero Chris Kyle to announce her support for a gun-control bill...I still wonder what Romney and Sinema meant, or thought they meant, even as I also imagine the entire thing was whipped up by terminally online aides who knew exactly what reaction they would receive. What I am certain of is that none of this has to do with Ted Lasso, a show whose successes or failures cannot tell us anything about American society because we are too large and irreducible a body of people for it. Probably the photo was a straightforward attempt to reach across the aisle by informing the country that Romney is just like us, because he watches the same shows. What he’s learned from this one, apart from how to concoct a genuinely impressive rib, we cannot possibly know."