White Lotus Star Jason Isaacs Walks Back Comment About Mikey Madison Nudity & ‘Double Standard’ After Massive Blowback!

Jason Isaacs is doing damage control, but it’s not about that body part. No, it’s about the foot he stuck in his mouth!

The Harry Potter star surprised EVERYONE when he went full frontal in an episode of The White Lotus earlier this month. But after the sheer shock wore off, the conversation quickly started to shift to the authenticity of the scene — and whether it was really his goods, or a made-for-TV prosthetic, as it usually is with actors. And he wasn’t too happy about it!

During an interview with CBS Mornings, the 61-year-old criticized reporters’ fixation on his nude scene and claimed a “double standard” exists for male VS. female nudity on screen. He pointed specifically to Mikey Madison‘s award-winning role in Anora, as well as Margaret Qualley’s nakedness in The Substance and how “nobody would dream” of asking them about the authenticity of their scenes:

“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 [the screen] all the time. It’s interesting that there’s a double standard for men. 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.”

And the internet just about imploded!

The reality is women have historically been “dissected and scrutinized” relentlessly about their physical appearances, including weight, bust size, and more. Also, there’s like, a FAR bigger presence of female nudity in cinema as opposed to male! Not only that, women are pretty much expected to show their actual bodies, and the idea of their nudity being simulated with prosthetics is almost never discussed because NO ONE EVER GIVES THEM THAT OPTION! Phew.

Related: White Lotus Fans TORN By Show’s Shocking Incest Twist!

So yeah, Jason came off as majorly out of touch… But you know what? He’s taking the criticism on the chin and apologizing! During an interview with Variety published on Tuesday, he admitted:

“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.”

The HBO star blamed the gaffe in his CBS interview on his clumsy attempts to “lightheartedly” dodge questions about his nude scene or to “brush it away.” He specifically said he wanted to avoid it becoming the focus of the conversation — lest it “take away from Perez Hilton Mike White’s brilliance.” He added:

“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.”

Okay, this sounds a WHOLE lot better!

He went on to speculate that part of the reason there’s so much peen in The White Lotus is to “redress the unfair balance” of male vs. female nudity on screen:

“Women have been exploited forever in cinema and made to be gratuitously naked and asked totally inappropriate questions.”

He does, however, still believe reporters asking him whether the penis was really his or not is “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. I thought I could have fun batting it off, but I batted it off very poorly.”

Well, again, the reason that’s still a question isn’t about Jason in particular, who we’re sure has a lovely penis. It’s actually folks wondering how far we have come in redressing the inequality in nudity standards.

But finally, he teased what’s left to come this season:

“Come next week and the week after, I don’t think we’ll be talking about my naked body again. There’s plenty of other fabulous stuff coming down the pike.”

What do YOU think of Jason’s shift in tone? Let us know in the comments down below!

[Image via HBO/Max & Neon/Hulu]

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