The White Lotus star Jason Isaacs has clarified comments he made saying there was a “double standard” for male actors being asked questions about on-screen nudity.
It comes after the 61-year-old was asked questions about whether he was wearing a prosthetic penis in series three of The White Lotus, during a press tour for the comedy drama show.
Isaacs replied by saying reporters would “would never dream” of asking similar questions of Anora star Mikey Madison or The Substance star Margaret Qualley, prompting online criticism.
Apologising for his comments, the actor told 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.”
He explained to the US outlet that he had made his initial comments in an attempt to dodge questions about his genitalia.
In the interview, he continued: “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.”
Isaacs said that male nudity in the series had been put in to “redress the unfair balance” of nudity on screen, and added that “women have been exploited forever in cinema and made to be gratuitously naked and asked totally inappropriate questions”.
But the Liverpool-born star said he stood by his comments that asking whether his character’s penis is his own were “embarrassing and inappropriate”, going on to tell Variety the questions were “a bit weird and slightly obsessive”.
The White Lotus’s third season moves the action to a luxury hotel in Thailand, having previously been set in resorts in Hawaii and Sicily, and follows the story of its guests and staff.
Isaacs, who plays Timothy Ratliff, is also known for his role as Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter film series, and Georgy Zhukov in political comedy The Death Of Stalin.
