(CNSNews.com) - The cast of “Ted Lasso” visited the White House on Monday to talk about mental health, but their appearance was upstaged by a reporter airing his grievances about White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre not calling on enough reporters in the room.

Pierre started to address a packed briefing room and introduce actor Jason Sudeikis and the cast of the show, when the reporter said, “Karine, before — before you begin. I would like to request that you call on everyone from across the room. 

“You’ve been discriminating against me and discriminating against some people in the briefing room, and I’m saying that this is the U.S. This is not China. This is not Russia,” Simon Ateba, White House correspondent for Today News Africa, complained.

“What you are doing, you are making a mockery of the First Amendment. It’s been seven months. You’ve not called on me. You blow off my messages. I’m saying that that’s not right. That’s not right,” he said.

“No, no, no, no. Nope. That’s not — we’re not doing this. We’re not doing this. We’re not doing this. We’re not doing this,” Jean-Pierre responded.

Other reporters in the briefing room scolded Ateba, yelling, “Decorum,” “Be respectful,” and “You’re being rude.”

“Are you ready?  Are we going to behave?” the press secretary asked.
 
“It’s not about behaving,” Ateba said. “I’m saying that it is to respect the First Amendment.”