‘The White Lotus’ star Jason Isaacs apologises for male nudity comments: “Women have been monstrously exploited”
After his recent comments about the media comments around his full-frontal nudity scene in The White Lotus, Jason Isaacs has apologised for his claims about how men and women are treated differently.
In an attempt to avoid questions about whether he was wearing prosthetics during a nude scene in the third season of the hit TV show, Isaacs responded that he believes there is a ”double standard” for male actors doing nude scenes and that the media would “never dream of” asking Anora’s Mikey Madison or The Substance’s Margaret Qualley about their genitalia. However, his comments sparked a wider discussion and controversy on the internet.
Isaacs has now clarified his comments, telling Variety, “I said the wrong words in the wrong way. I used the phrase ‘double standard,’ which I didn’t mean at all. There is a [different] double standard — women have been monstrously exploited and men haven’t.”
Isaacs explained that he attempted to divert the questions “lightheartedly” and “brush it away” so that it didn’t become the focus of the interview or “take away from Mike White’s brilliance”.
“It came out wrong, and I was tired — I’d done so many interviews,” Isaacs continued. “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.”
Isaacs expanded on the nudity conversation by explaining that The White Lotus is attempting to address the nudity imbalance on screen by showing more male characters who are naked. While he believes that “women have been exploited forever in cinema and made to be gratuitously naked and asked totally inappropriate questions”, he is also remaining firm in his stance that it is “embarrassing and inappropriate” to be asked questions about whether or not his characters penis is his own.
“I had been asked so many times in the same day by journalists, ‘Are you wearing a prosthetic?’ 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,” Isaacs says. “I thought I could have fun batting it off, but I batted it off very poorly.”
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