[textedit]: Deselect and/or ignore certain input?

Is there a way to deselect the [textedit] object?

I'm using the "escape" key for some context-specific special functions (call a menu, close a menu, etc.). And when [textedit] has focus the other [key] objects are no longer listening for keyboard input. I could put a [select 27] on the second outlet of [textedit]. That helps a little, but doesn't really solve my problem because [textedit] still has focus and none of my other [key] objects are functional. So my logic for how to process subsequent "esc" presses still gets messed up.

Ideally there would be a way to cancel the focus on [textedit].
With (@keymode 1), pressing "enter" will release focus from the object.
But I cannot figure out how to get this behavior using messages into [textedit]. (or by any other means for that matter).

Is there any way to get focus away from [textedit] besides clicking on something else with the mouse, or pressing "enter" with @keymode 1?

Another option I could live with is making [textedit] ignore ascii 27. But of course I can't use [key]+[select 27] to filter out "esc" presses because [key] stops listening when [textedit] has focus.

I tried a few things but couldn't find a solution that works.
Any input would be a big help! Thanks!