Following the leak of cell phone footage of a naked Jesse Williams, star of the Broadway revival of Take Me Out, the theater is upping its security game to make sure the situation does not repeat.
Second Stage Theater was furious after an audience member posted the video to Twitter the same day the Tony Award announcements were released. “Taking naked pictures of anyone without their consent is highly objectionable and can have severe legal consequences,” Second Stage 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.”
“I’m appalled by the disrespect shown to the actors of our company whose vulnerability on stage ever night is crucial to Take Me Out,” Williams’ co-star, Jesse Tyler Ferguson tweeted. “Anyone who applauds or trivializes this behavior has no place in the theater which has always been a safe space for artists & audience members.”
Related: Jesse Tyler Ferguson talks Broadway, baseball and LGBTQ rights
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Even before the leak, the theater was going to great lengths to enforce its no-photo rule. Second Stage required audience members to lock their phones in Yondr pouches, which remain locked until after the performance. It is unclear whether the leaker managed to open their pouch during the show, or snuck in another device.
Now the venue has installed a new infrared monitor system which allows theater staff to see what audiences are doing in the dark and focus in on any suspicious activity.
Williams, for his part, seems to have taken the the event in stride.
“It’s a body, once you see it, you realize it’s whatever, it’s a boy! I just have to make it not that big of a deal,” he told Andy Cohen this week.
Take Me Out received four 2022 Tony Award nominations — featured actor noms for Williams, Ferguson and Michael Oberholtzer, as well as Best Revival of a Play.
Head here to read Queerty’s review of the play.
Jim
And tickets sales soar.
So who with the production leaked it?
Walker
Bingo.
Bengali
It wasn’t leaked from within the production. Already proven it was an audience MEMBER (I said “member” – tee hee).
I don’t know which I like more about Jesse Williams: the possibility of him having a very large wing-wang or that amazing, sexy a.f. cascade of sprinkles on his nose. I mean, WOW!!!
Inspector 57
Bengali, I did a big Google search to discover evidence that it had been “proven” that a fan had captured and released the nude footage. It yielded nothing. No names, no threats of lawsuits, no announcements of a search to track down his Instagram identity. Nothing.
I don’t agree with you that it could not have been leaked by the production. I do agree with you that Jesse’s face (and body and, apparently, dick) is sexy AF.
Ed R.
All of this hoopla about see his dick, when you can go online and see thousands of beautiful wangs…So what it’s attached to a celebrity..
Gordon of the Bassets
Oh! I see. Are you the sort of person who surreptitiously records entire shows from the cheap seats and posts the result as a slime tutorial (have I got the correct term here?) online with a total disregard of the creative and performing artists intellectual property rights?
gregg2010
Oh my, Jesse agreed to be naked on stage in front of audience after audience, and people are upset that a nude photo leaked? Sorry, no sympathy from me.
Doug
I also find this a little strange. “Taking naked pictures of anyone without their consent…” The man has consented to appear publically totally nude for anyone who comes into the theater. It’s hardly a secret what he looks like to anyone who wants to buy a ticket. He’s also quoted in interviews as saying in regards to being naked on stage, “It’s no big deal, it’s just a body.” Obviously it is.
dre23222
I want him so bad. He is just so hot and handsome
svustabler
Snuck in another device? I never understood why some think that everyone has only one cell phone. Most people I know have two: one personal and one for work. I have two for work.
lou lou de la falaise
It was going to happen.
Ken A.
I saw it and it is big. Queerty linked it.
RandomGuy
It was a stunt the theatre hoped his big dick would make up for his bad acting.
MISTERJETT
so when did you see the play, jerk?
MISTERJETT
i don’t understand why people are going on about how big it is. don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice size but i’ve seen bigger in all colors – including when i look in the mirror after my shower. no brag, just fact.
jeff1370
And, your address is…….
Sanjo
Are you saying yours is all colors, like a rainbow?
Gordon of the Bassets
Sanjo, all colours? Like greenish-to-black, blue/purple, yellow? More like bruises than a rainbow. That is the problem with wonder-wangs, they are so easily damaged when squeezed into too right places. (Ahem!)
Jay002
I am just happy to see a sexy bi-racial or black man as he is and not what some corporation or someone who has nothing to do with a person of color decide what is sexy about people of color. I seen black models on the runway or in magazines and it is always a image that always portray people of color in a way I can’t relate to. There are a lot of Jessie Williams out there but for some reason they are ignored.
DuMaurier
This is actually an interesting ethical question if we can get beyond acting like little kids who’ve never seen a wee-wee before. Williams is nude every night for anyone who pays to see him nude. So anyone who’s seen the pics online could see the real thing in person and that’d be fine. So is it a violation to enable people seeing his nudity in a context other than where and how he agreed to be nude?
I think you can make a good argument that it is, just as most people would agree that a celebrity who’s nude in any situation (on vacation, in private pics intended for a specific person) has been violated if their nudity is taken out of that situation (spread around on the Internet) But the situations aren’t exactly the same, and I’m not a wise enough philosopher to come to any brilliant conclusive judgment.
bachy
I DEMAND that production immediately begin on a Jesse Williams, one-man-all-nude-revue!!!
Mostlikelytobedownvoted
Have they contacted Patti Lupone yet?
frapachino
“It’s a body, once you see it, you realize it’s whatever, it’s a boy! I just have to make it not that big of a deal,” he told Andy Cohen this week. Yet the angry virtue signaling crowd has jumped on the bandwagon anyway.
Ronbo
Once Andy enters the room, you know it’s a staged event…. ask his sweet little daughter, Publicity.