Jesse Williams has spoken out after photos of him performing naked on the Broadway stage were shared online.
The former Grey’s Anatomy star is currently appearing in a revival of Take Me Out, a baseball-themed play which centres around themes of sexuality, race and toxic masculinity.
Take Me Out also includes scenes of full-frontal nudity, and while audience members are asked not to take photos during the show, one defied this rule and posted pictures of Jesse naked on social media this week.
Speaking during the Watch What Happens Live after-show, Jesse downplayed the pictures, insisting: “It’s a body, once you see it, you realise it’s whatever, it’s a boy! I just have to make it not that big of a deal.”
However, the Second Stage Theatre – the production company behind Take Me Out – had a rather different viewpoint on the leaked photos, which they called a “gross and unacceptable violation”.
Rodin Eckenroth via Getty Images
“It is deeply unfortunate that one audience member chose to disrespect the production, their fellow audience members, and most importantly, the case in this matter,” they said in a statement.
“Posting it on the internet is a gross and unacceptable violation of trust between the actor and audience forged in the theater community.”
Last month, Jesse admitted he’d been “terrified” at the prospect of going nude in front of an entire theatre audience, before he embraced being taken out of his comfort zone.
“I was terrified,” he told Page Six. “But then I noted that that was what I asked God for. I asked to be terrified.
“I asked to do something that was scary and challenging and made me earn it and made me feel alive and not comfortable.”
