Yahoo Lifestyle Jason Isaacs Has Backtracked And Admitted That “Women Have Been Monstrously Exploited” In Cinema After His Comments About His “White Lotus” Nude Scene Sparked Backlash
As you may know, Jason Isaacs is currently starring in the third season of The White Lotus, where he plays wealthy Southern patriarch Timothy Ratliff, who isn’t exactly having the best time on his family vacation to Thailand. It was in the fourth episode — which aired earlier this month — that the character really started to spiral, with Timothy accidentally exposing himself in front of his wife and kids in a brief moment of full frontal nudity.
And while it was previously confirmed to TV Insider that 61-year-old Jason wore a prosthetic for the scene, the actor was still quizzed about it during an appearance on CBS Mornings — and his reaction to the questions did not go down well.
After he was asked if he wore a prosthetic penis for filming, Jason retorted: “A lot of people are debating it, it’s all over the internet, and it’s interesting because the best actress this year is Mikey Madison at the Oscars. And I don't see anybody discussing her vulva, which was on television all the time. It's interesting that there's a double standard for men.”
“When women are naked, Margaret Qualley as well, in The Substance, nobody would dream of talking to her about her genitalia or her nipples or any of those things. So, it's odd that there's a double standard,” he went on. “I don't think that people really want to know how the sausage is made. Genuinely, I think it would be odd when there are characters — and some of the women are naked in here — it'd be odd if you were sitting here. And you would never dream of discussing their genitalia, not for a second."
Discussing The White Lotus’s creator, Jason added: "Mike White is a brilliant writer; it's the best series on television for a long time. And what is the obsession with penises? It's an odd thing.”
But Jason’s comments perhaps didn’t land in the way that he expected them to, with many viewers criticizing his reductive approach to the way that female nudity is presented onscreen. Noting that the actor was seemingly suggesting that the response to his full frontal nudity was somehow representative of misandry, it was quickly pointed out that the public reaction to seeing a penis onscreen is actually more reflective of misogyny as it’s so much more common for women to be naked in movies and TV shows — making audiences somewhat desensitized to it.
© Neon /Courtesy Everett Collection, © MUBI / Courtesy Everett Collection
And Jason reflected on this as he backtracked on what he said on the talk show, acknowledging that men certainly don’t have it harder than women — who he admitted have been “monstrously exploited” over the years. The star also explained that his quotes were clunky because he was “tired” during the interview, and what he said did not come out in the way that he meant it to. Clarifying his comments to Variety, Jason confessed: “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.”
“I was wrong, and I was tired — I’d done so many interviews,” he added. “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.”
Jason also said that he was trying to be lighthearted in the interview because he wanted to brush away the nudity questions so that the focus could be on The White Lotus as a whole.
“Women have been exploited forever in cinema and made to be gratuitously naked and asked totally inappropriate questions,” he acknowledged, before maintaining that he still found the questions about his character’s penis “embarrassing and inappropriate.”
“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,” Jason explained. “I thought I could have fun batting it off, but I batted it off very poorly.”
All in all, Jason has been widely praised for being able to publicly admit that he was wrong on this occasion, and for being so proactive in setting the record straight. Discussing his new quotes on a Reddit forum, one person wrote: “Ultimately, we've all said things we reconsider after. And famous people have their thoughts and words recorded constantly. I think it's fair to be like ‘Oh nah, I fucked up saying that, I don't think that.’”
“He corrected it immediately too, and not with an instagram story that disappears after 24 hours. His apology also didn’t reek of ‘trying to save my career,’” somebody else added.
“If I had to do these exhausting interviews all day where you are asked the same silly questions, I'd probably say stupid stuff on accident too,” one more mused, to which another joked: “I don't ever do exhausting interviews, and I still say stupid stuff. I'm glad he corrected himself, it makes a lot of sense.”
“I’m glad he’s taking the opportunity to clarify himself. I fully got what he intended but boy did it come out wrong,” somebody else wrote.
And one more concluded: “Honestly I appreciate this. It’s a full acknowledgment of the stupidity of what he said and feels more honest than most of what we get when ppl say dumb things.”
What do you make of Jason’s comments? Let me know below!
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