“The White Lotus”' Jason Isaacs has awkward morning-show exchange over questions about full-frontal scene

The CBS Mornings hosts asked Jason Isaacs about his recent full-frontal scene on The White Lotus  — and he got a little testy.

The Death of Stalin actor found himself at the center of an awkward exchange with Gayle King, Tony Dokoupil, and Nate Burleson after a question about his character accidentally exposing his genitalia to his family.

"Was that you or was that a prosthetic?" King asked. "Because we were debating it."

"A lot of people were debating it. It's all over the internet," Isaacs replied.

"You didn't answer the question!" King exclaimed.

"Well, I'll tell you why," the actor said. "Because the Best Actress this year was Mikey Madison at the Oscars, and I don't see anybody discussing her vulva, which is on [screen] all the time." (Isaacs is correct that Madison did not talk about her genitalia on the Anora press circuit, but nudity and sex scenes were frequent topics of conversation in her interviews.)

Related: The White Lotus stars Carrie Coon, Leslie Bibb react to that Trump conversation in episode 3

"I think it's interesting that there's a double standard for men," Isaacs continued. "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. And so it's odd that there's a double standard." (Qualley openly discussed her prosthetic breasts and frequently talked about the film's nude scenes alongside her costar Demi Moore while promoting The Substance.)

After the CBS Mornings team noted that Isaacs sounded like he was trying to dodge the question, the actor responded, "It is a dodge, because I don't think that people really wanna know how the sausage is made."

Later, Dokoupil asked, "Is the guy who does the prosthetics the same guy who does the ears and the noses?" in reference to Isaacs' supposedly prosthetic penis.

Related: Walton Goggins reveals why The White Lotus episode 3 was 'f---ing horrific'

"Who's got fake ears and noses?" Isaacs asked in response. "I genuinely think it would be odd when there are characters — some of the women are naked in here — it'd be odd if they were sitting here… you would never dream of discussing their genitalia. Not for a second."

After King attempted to steer the conversation in a different direction, Dokoupil asked about the prosthetics once more. "I think if prosthetics were standard with actresses, we would ask," he said.

Related: Mike White told The White Lotus season 3 star to watch Bravo's Southern Charm for inspiration

"What is your obsession with it? Are you having therapy?" Isaacs replied. "Mike White is a brilliant writer. It's the best series on television, for a long time. What is the obsession with penises? It's an odd thing."

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Isaacs briefly discussed his White Lotus nude scene in an interview with Entertainment Weekly before diving into a broader analysis of his character, Timothy Ratliff. "Yeah, it is now in my contract for every show I do, so we'll see," he joked in reference to onscreen nudity. "It'll get easier, hopefully."

Of Timothy he said, "He's drugging himself into a stupor to try not to think about the fact that his entire life is blowing up, and trying to work out what to do about it… I remember reading the scripts thinking, 'Wow, I've got to keep my powder dry for five or six episodes, and then this s--- really kicks off.'"

Isaacs continued, "You haven't seen other things that are coming, but I just remember thinking, 'I better dig deep and produce something here,' because there's a lot of parts you can go through and tell a very dramatic story without your character going through anything extreme. But there's some big old acting coming up."

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