Jason Isaacs would rather you not ask about his penis in the new episode White Lotus. The actor said he thinks there’s a “double standard” in how the public discusses male and female nudity. In an interview with CBS Mornings, Isaacs addressed the conversation around his body part being shown on TV as he slammed Gayle King’s (valid) question about genital prosthetics in the film.
“A lot of people are debating it. It’s all over the internet,” Isaacs said on CBS Mornings “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.” (To be clear, Madison plays a sex worker in Anora but her vagina is not shown in the film.)
“I think it’s interesting that there’s a double standard for men,” Isaacs continued, seemingly upset. “But 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 when it comes to discussing [this].”
When the CBS Mornings anchors insisted on asking about prosthetics, he declined to answer because “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,” he said. “And what is the obsession with penises? It’s an odd thing.”
Sam Nivola and Sarah Catherine Hook — who play two of his kids in White Lotus — previously responded to questions about the scene very simply, confirming that, yes, he did wear a prosthetic. And that Isaacs liked wearing it.
“That wasn’t his real penis,” Nivola said.
“It was a prosthetic,” added Hook. “He was very excited to do it. I think he took pride in the prosthetic.”
“He’s like, ‘It’s my fake dick scene today!’” Nivola added.
New episodes of White Lotus drop every Sunday on MAX.
