Fabio Lovino/HBO
Jason Isaacs Responds to Backlash Over ‘The White Lotus’ Full-Frontal Scene Controversy
The White Lotus star Jason Isaacs’ full-frontal scene in season 3 has had the internet abuzz for days. The actor himself even weighed in with his frustrations about the conversation, but he admitted he regretted his comments calling the discussion a “double standard.”
“I said the wrong words in the wrong way. I used the phrase ‘double standard,’ which I didn’t mean at all,” Jason, 61, said during an interview with Variety published on Tuesday, March 18. “There is a [different] double standard — women have been monstrously exploited and men haven’t.”
He continued, “It came out wrong, and I was tired — I’d done so many interviews. I absolutely should not have mentioned those two actresses, whom I respect enormously. Mikey Madison I’m a massive fan of. My point wasn’t that men have had a harder time than women — that would be absurd. Women have had a monstrous time on camera forever, and I hope to God that is changing.”
The Harry Potter star went on to say that he had been asked whether he was wearing a prosthetic “so many times in the same day by journalists.”
“Which means, ‘Have I seen your actual penis? It’s very important for me to know if I’ve seen your penis.’ It just strikes me as a bit weird and slightly obsessive,” Jason explained. “I thought I could have fun batting it off, but I batted it off very poorly.”
Plus, the A Cure for Wellness actor added that he didn’t want that one specific scene to dominate all the conversations about this season of The White Lotus or “take away from [creator] Mike White’s brilliance.”
Jason’s surprising nude scene quickly became the topic of conversation after episode 4 of The White Lotus season 3, which premiered on March 9. His character, Timothy Ratliff, wore only a robe after waking up and wandering into the kitchen where his three adult kids and wife were talking. When he raised his arms to stretch, the robe opened and his penis was in full view, which immediately horrified his daughter and youngest son.
The former OA star sat down for an interview with the hosts of CBS Mornings on March 14, and he was asked about the full-frontal scene. However, he kindly tried to shift the conversation away from the nudity.
“A lot of people are debating it. It’s all over the internet,” Jason said. “And it’s interesting that there’s a double standard for men, but when women are naked, no one would dream of talking to her about her genitalia or her nipples or any of those things.”
He referenced both Anora star Mikey Madison and The Substance’s Margaret Qualley and pointed out how no one would ever ask them about their genitalia.
The CBS Mornings hosts jokingly accused Jason of dodging the question about whether or not the appendage in The White Lotus scene actually belonged to him, he replied with a chuckle, “It is a dodge because I don’t think people really want to know how the sausage is made.”
Jason received a bit of backlash from commenters who thought he was brushing over the way women in the entertainment industry have been treated.
“The reason people don’t talk about female nudity as much isn’t because women face less scrutiny and ogling about their bodies —it’s because female nudity has been so normalized that it’s expected,” one person wrote on YouTube.
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