The White Lotus star Jason Isaacs has admitted regret over his controversial male nudity comments, acknowledging that he said the ‘wrong words.
The Harry Potter legend had criticised the fevered speculation around his wearing a prosthetic penis as he bared all in a recent episode of the HBO series, in which he stars alongside Parker Posey and Patrick Schwarzenegger.
Jason, 61, plays dysfunctional dad-of-three and shady businessman Timothy Ratfliff in the third season, and at one point, his character lets all hang loose – baring all as his dressing gown flops open in front of his mortified children.
Following what’s been branded the season’s most shocking scene so far, Jason faced speculation over whether he had used a prosthetic during filming, including on CBS Mornings with Gayle King.
‘A lot of people are debating it. It’s all over the internet,’ Jason said, before describing the question as a ‘double-standard.’
He continued: ‘I’ll tell you why, because the best actress this year is Mikey Madison at the Oscars and I don’t see anyone discussing her vulva, which is on television all the time and I’m not talking about Swedish cars.
‘I think it’s interesting that there’s a double standard for men, but when women are naked, Margaret Qualley in The Substance, no one 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 added.
He’s now taken back his comments – which faced backlash – telling 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 said he has been trying to deal with questions about his nude scene ‘lightheartedly’ and wanted to ‘brush it away’ from being the focus of the series.
‘It came out wrong, and I was tired — I’d done so many interviews,’ he said.
‘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.’
He added that he batted off the question ‘very poorly’ and said that one of the reasons male nude scenes are included in The White Lotus is to ‘redress the unfair balance’ of nudity on screen.
Each season is set in a different branch of the fictional hotel chain, with this third instalment taking place in Thailand, where Tim is vacationing with his wife and three children.
It’s been far from a relaxing time so far, with shady businessman Tim facing bankruptcy and even jail time back home. He’s turned to pills to relieve the stress – and spent much of the last two episodes in a zonked-out state.
During his CBS appearance, Gayle’s co-host Tony Dokoupil continued to push the matter by revealing howdebate over whether or not he’d used a prosthetic had been talk of the studio all morning.
‘What is your obsession?’ Jason responded.
‘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.’
Jason’s co-stars, however, have answered the question on everyone’s lips already, with Sam Nivola (playing screen son Lochlan) telling TV Insider: ‘I kinda forgot about that. There’s so much that happens… and I blacked out. But that wasn’t his real penis.’
‘It was a prosthetic… It was really funny, and he was very excited to do it. I think he took pride in the prosthetic. He gave that guy a nice shot,’ added Sarah Catherine Hook, who plays daughter Piper.
After starring in the show’s second series, actor Theo James confirmed that he too donned a ‘pee-pee prosthetic’, telling late night talk show host Jimmy Fallon: ‘So, you know, the truth of it is that you go into these things and you have conversations with the director and the producers and they go “ok, for this we are going to use a prosthetic, we are going to use something”.’
‘And you say “ok that sounds good”.’
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Earlier this very season, the show left viewers ‘creeped out’ as star Patrick – who plays Tim’s oldest son, Saxon – stripped off in full view of brother Lochlan (Sam Nivola).
This scene came only moments after he described their sister as ‘hot’ during a conversation about her supposed virginity.
Viewers were left slack-jawed as Saxon stripped off while his younger brother looked on, not breaking his gaze the entire time.
Noticing Lochy’s lingering looks, Saxon then headed into the bathroom with his laptop to masturbate.
‘Called his sister hot and almost jacked off in front of his bro I’m scared. I screamed,’ wrote Complete-Reserve2026 on social media as the episode aired.
Watch The White Lotus on Sky Atlantic and SkyGo.
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