It was a cringeworthy case of art imitating life. And the White House press secretary imitating an actual press secretary. You know, one who actually does her job.

I’m talking about Monday’s visit to the White House by the cast of “Ted Lasso.”

Apparently, Dr. Jill and Joe and Karine Jean-Pierre were unaware that Jason Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham and company are ACTORS.

That is, they are paid to memorize lines that someone else writes.

They’re not necessary smart and they certainly aren’t what they appear to be on the screen. 

For instance, Sudeikis is not really the coach of an English Premier League soccer team. He’s very good as Ted Lasso, but Ted Lasso doesn’t exist.

Hannah Waddingham? She does not own a premier league team and may not even like shortbread, although she convincingly gobbles up the cookies on the show.

Same goes for Sarah Niles who plays a therapist on Ted Lasso. She is not a psychologist. She’s a British actor.

See how that works?

So the fact that the disappointing second season of Ted Lasso took a bit of a dark turn with a deep dive into the psyches of Ted and some of his players does not make the actors experts in mental illness, although I don’t doubt that several of them may actually suffer from mental disorders. It’s not uncommon.

Nevertheless, the cast was invited to the White House to raise awareness of mental illness and were paraded to an adoring press corps at Karine Jean-Pierre’s Monday press availability.

The sheep of the media dutifully sat there waiting for permission to ask questions, until one man, Simon Ateba, chief White House Correspondent for Today News Africa, dared to demand that the press secretary actually take one of his questions.

"This is not China. This is not Russia. What you are doing, you’re making a mockery of the First Amendment," Ateba said. "It's been seven months you've not called on me. I'm saying that's not right.”

He’s not the only one to accuse the press secretary of playing favorites. It’s apparently a common complaint. Fox News’ Joe Concha summed it up this way:

“She (Jean-Pierre) only calls on those she deems as friendly, and then she'll call on Peter Doocy because obviously she knows that's something that's going to be called out on the most-watched cable news network in the country if she does not."

"Karine Jean-Pierre is a lot like her boss. She doesn't answer any tough questions, and we saw last week – finally – the White House press corps had enough when they protested around the president's handlers shouting them down when they tried to ask questions of him in the Oval Office.”

In an act of unbridled condescension, columnist Brian Karem leapt off his feet and shouted at Ateba during the frustrated reporter’s outburst:

“Mind your manners!” he screamed.

Mind YOUR manners, Mr. Karem. Have some sympathy for an African reporter who is deemed unworthy of the attention of the president’s spokeswoman either because he’s not a Biden fanboy or because doesn’t represent a big American news outlet.

It can’t be because he’s annoying, since nearly all newspaper reporters are annoying.

Meanwhile banks are failing, the U.S. is deep in a proxy war with Russia, inflation is out of control, the president of China is canoodling with the president of Russia and the White House turned the daily press availability over to lovable celebrities.

And the only member of the press corps who objected to another choreographed event designed to make Biden look good was not even an American.

 Shame on all of them.