WASHINGTON — The White House press room’s descent into chaos after the cast of “Ted Lasso” was trotted out to do a stunt appearance before the daily briefing was just the latest in a series of celebrity cameos orchestrated by President Biden’s aides that have at times irked reporters.

A heckling journalist accused Biden’s staff of making a “mockery of the First Amendment” Monday as the White House hosted the cast of the feel-good Apple TV+ show at the start of the daily briefing

While it’s common for presidents to host celebrities to boost their popularity or to underscore policy priorities, Biden aides often dispatch them to address the press in the briefing room as well, creating soft-news spectacles that dwarf any story that may then emerge from reporters questioning officials.

On Monday afternoon, an actor portraying a fictional reporter on “Ted Lasso” asked the first question of the press briefing — of fellow actor Jason Sudeikis — in a cutesy moment that delayed the start of real press inquiries. 

Journalist Simon Ateba of Today News Africa bellowed from a fifth-row seat that press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was “making a mockery of the First Amendment” when the cast walked on stage — noting she rarely takes his question. Actors from the England-based soccer show stood awkwardly behind her.

Ateba’s outburst was widely scorned by fellow reporters, in part because it began at the very start of the briefing and was not an attempt to ask a specific question but rather to air a more general grievance about not being called on — a widely shared frustration that’s usually addressed in a more restrained manner by journalists in the room who can go months without being selected for a single question.

The Biden administration has used the briefing room repeatedly to give a platform to celebrities, who generally depart without taking any questions from real reporters — drawing more measured objections as well from the press corps.

Pop star Olivia Rodrigo, then 18, visited the briefing room in July 2021 to encourage fellow teenagers to submit to COVID-19 vaccination.

The Korean boy band BTS followed in May 2022, supposedly to discourage anti-Asian hate crimes in the US. The visit coincided, however, with a political campaign in South Korea to exempt the K-pop stars from mandatory military service because of their value as cultural ambassadors.

In June 2022, actor Matthew McConaughey stood behind the briefing podium to call for new gun control measures after the massacre of 21 people at a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school. He too left the stage without taking questions, irking journalists.

“Were you grandstanding just now, sir?” veteran journalist James Rosen of Newsmax shouted as McConaughey left the briefing room.

After the movie star’s exit, ABC reporter Karen Travers, a board member of the White House Correspondents’ Association and a frequent advocate for better press access, asked Jean-Pierre to “commit that going forward, if there is a guest or a celebrity here, that you would ensure that they would stay at the podium and take questions from reporters after they speak.”

“They are a guest, that is not for me to ensure,” Jean-Pierre replied at the time. “They are a guest of ours. It is up to them if they want to take questions or not. We respect them and what they want to do. Matthew was here and when he was done, he said thank you and he walked away. That really is up to him.”

Other celebrities who visited the Biden-era briefing room include “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” singer Cindy Lauper, who appeared in December just before performing at a South Lawn signing ceremony for a bill that reconfirmed the judicially mandated legality of same-sex marriage by repealing the 1996 Defense of Marriage, which then-Sen. Biden backed.

Biden has to a greater degree than Trump entertained celebrities — though Trump too drew attention with guests such as Kim Kardashian, who lobbied him on clemency matters, and her then-spouse rapper Kanye West, who pounded his fist on the historic Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.

Biden’s A-list celebrity visits include a 2,000-person concert on the White House lawn by Elton John on a Friday night in September. 

Meanwhile, Vogue editor Anna Wintour, “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert and actresses Jennifer Garner and Julia Louis-Dreyfus were among Biden’s guests at his first state dinner in December.