‘The White Lotus’ Star Jason Isaacs Addresses Gender Disparities After Gayle King Questions Him About On-Screen Gential Prosthetics

In an interview with CBS Mornings, Jason Isaacs (The Patriot, Peter Pan)  was questioned about his full-frontal nudity scene in The White Lotus. Issacs responded by addressing his perceived gender inequalities when it comes to nudity in film. 

According to Deadline, during a guest spot on the daytime program, interviewer Gayle King addressed the social media buzz surrounding whether Isaacs employed a prosthetic in the HBO series. Issacs responded by saying “A lot of people are debating it. It’s all over the internet.”

Deadline reported on the key quotes from the exchange. King followed up by prompting him to answer the previous question, to which he responded “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,” he added. “So, it’s odd that there’s a double standard.”

Isaacs admitted to initially deflecting, saying “because I don’t think that people really want to know how the sausage is made,” continuing, “I genuinely 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.”

When the program’s co-host Tony Dokoupil mentioned that the use of a prosthetic has been a topic of discussion that morning, Isaacs clapbacked. 

“What is your obsession?” stating further, “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.”

Watch the full interview here.