Jason Sudeikis and Brendan Hunt Respond to Joy Behar Saying She Was Offered Ted Lasso Role: 'News to Us'

Jason Sudeikis and Brendan Hunt are addressing a recent hot topic about Ted Lasso.

The stars of the Apple TV+ series, which is up for a staggering 21 Emmys at Monday night's ceremony (and it already took home two), joined seven fellow cast members for a panel discussion at the PEOPLE X IHG Hotels & Resorts pre-Emmys event with the cast of Ted Lasso at Kimpton Everly Hotel in Los Angeles on Thursday.

And when asked by the panel moderator, PEOPLE’s Breanne L. Heldman, if it was true that The View host, Joy Behar, 81, had been approached to play Sudeikis' mom in season 3 of the show, the two actors expressed their surprise. 

“I, no. Joy Behar from The View?” Sudeikis, 48 — who plays the title role — responded.

“Respectfully, it would be news to us. We just work there,” Hunt, 51 — who plays Coach Beard — added.

Behar claimed she was contacted about the part and turned it down during an appearance on the Behind the Table podcast earlier this week.

"It was too hot," she said. "There was a heat wave going on at that time, like, 100-degree weather, and I'd have to get on a plane and go in the middle of the heat? No. Listen, I'm a writer, I write my own stuff. I don't care about other people's stuff. I don't need to be in everything."

Still, Sudeikis responded with some Lasso-like warmth and said that he would be happy for Behar to become part of the Ted Lasso family. 

“She's welcome to sit at the table,” he told Heldman.

The conversation — which was also attended by show actors Hannah Waddingham, Brett Goldstein, Phil Dunster, Cristo Fernandez, Kola Bokinni, James Lance, and Billy Harris — began with a discussion of the show's success and what it has meant to its fans.

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"The whole COVID [conversation] was a bit interesting: people say [Ted Lasso] came along just at the right time," she began. "I actually think it slightly does the show a disservice, because, I think, regardless of the horrific pandemic, it would've done the same thing."

Waddingham continued, "I think people were ready for kindness and humor through kindness and joy and the warm hug that it is in general. The beautiful writing and the way every character is fleshed out so beautifully."

The actress also noted that the nature of the show's characters allows audience introspection.

"You see their yin-yang within themselves and what we find in ourselves by watching it," Waddingham explained. "So I actually think that it would've had this success regardless, because of the joy it brings."

Ted Lasso is available to stream on Apple TV+.