Multiple members of the Philadelphia Eagles made a cameo appearance in Wednesday’s episode of the hit comedy “Abbott Elementary.” Quarterback Jalen Hurts, center Jason Kelce and defensive end Brandon Graham appeared on the episode, which was the show’s season three premiere.
During the episode, Janine Teagues, played by actress Quinta Brunson, hosted a career episode for the students at Abbott Elementary, and Melissa, played by Lisa Ann Walter, brings in an Eagles marketing employee. That employee ended up being Hurts and was introduced by principal Ava Coleman (played by Janelle James) as the “world’s finest starting quarterback” on a live stream.
At the end of the episode, Hurts was joined by Kelce and Graham on the live stream, who mocked Hurts for being late for practice.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Abbott Elementary” showrunner Justin Halpern revealed that Hurts actually reached out to express his interest in an appearance on the show last year.
“Hurts’ people actually emailed us in the middle of Season 2 to say that he was a big fan of the show, and if there was ever an opportunity he’d be interested in being on it,” Halpern said. “Sports are a big part of Philadelphia. It’s in the DNA of the city. Our characters talk about it.
“Quinta said before, ‘You can’t do a Philly show and not have them talking about sports.’ So we’re doing this career day episode, and we want a fun, exciting guest star for our premiere — but not just a famous person because they’re famous,” he added. “So we were like, ‘oh, it’d be so great if what fucks up her career day is the fact that she ends up getting somebody who’s too famous in terms of Philly.’ So we reached out and they were preparing for the playoffs, so we knew we couldn’t fly him out here. So we said, ‘Let’s just have it happen via Zoom and that’ll be how we do it.’ And then it just all kind of worked out. We have an amazing crew and they made it happen.”
Since Hurts was preparing for the Eagles’ playoff run, he wasn’t able to appear on the show in a live capacity, but this clearly was the next best thing.
