The Twitterverse has been freaking out after nude footage of actor Jesse Williams, who is currently starring in the Broadway revival Take Me Out, leaked this week.
An audience member snuck a camera inside Second Stage Theater, and America reacted as if it had never seen a naked man before.
Seriously, TikTok should invest in teaching sex ed instead of dance routines that look like moves from an aerobics class so we can stop scandalizing body parts.
Don’t get us wrong: we love seeing a hot naked celebrity as much as the next guy. But then that’s why you should buy tickets and watch Williams’ play. Otherwise, it’s against his consent, and the photo loses its appeal.
How about we take this to the next level?
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Williams is unbothered by the media chaos, shrugging off going full frontal on Watch What Happens Live! with Andy Cohen. He told Cohen that it’s really not that big of a deal. Ultimately, it’s just another one in the black hole of nudes that is the Twitterverse.
And yet some are still acting like they’ve never laid eyes on a male appendage before. It’s weird.
Broadway star Jesse Williams dishes on audience reactions to his nude scenes in Take Me Out. #WWHL pic.twitter.com/w3zttHqqxJ
— WWHL (@BravoWWHL) May 10, 2022
People should have the right to capitalize on their bodies–whether for art or pleasure–without being disrespected or privacy violated.
Ironically, Williams joked that he initially felt insecure about how he looked naked on stage, so hopefully, at the very least, this proves how wrong he was.
The theater company feels less casual about the leak and condemned the act as a “gross and unacceptable violation of trust.”
Our take? We should all feel disrespected because this might prevent future celebrity naked bodies from volunteering to get under a shower on stage.
Now, some tweets…
— Second Stage Theater (@2STNYC) May 10, 2022
*getting on twitter and searching Jesse Williams name like* pic.twitter.com/dhmYsnSySh
— . (@thebrattyvirgo) May 9, 2022
Yes Dr. Avery I’m ready to get this CAT scan #JesseWilliams pic.twitter.com/ZHMbhQ1HZO
— Duplicitous Whor3 (@DuplicitusWhor3) May 10, 2022
Front row at #JesseWilliams show like….. pic.twitter.com/RC9WIXQLVh
— kail salad 🌸 (@kailieykail) May 10, 2022
I’m not the biggest Jesse Williams fan but I feel bad this his privacy was violated while he was working. They make ppl lock up their phones during that show FOR A REASON. The fact that someone snuck in another to take that photo is real gross. pic.twitter.com/CY3rfbdFqN
— Meli (@rowansmama_) May 10, 2022
the objectification of Jesse Williams on Twitter today is really gross. his privacy was breached and whoever posted that photo originally (and whoever keeps reposting it) is a horrible person
— Rebecca 🤍 (@Rebecca_Mich) May 10, 2022
Seeing people laugh at the whole Jesse Williams thing and it’s disgusting.
The sexual harassment he is getting is nasty on top of an explicit image was leaked of him.
Some of you are mad.
— #emberessed (@RejiYates) May 11, 2022
Jesse Williams’ Broadway nude scene leak condemned by ‘Take Me Out’ co-star: ‘I’m appalled’https://t.co/tYyzxg2tLg
— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 11, 2022
Is there a reasonable expectation that if you appear nude in a play that those nudes will be leaked to the public? Because the Jesse Williams stuff seems really wrong to me.
— Kimberly Nicole Foster (@KimberlyNFoster) May 10, 2022
The nude leak of Jesse Williams and his fellow actors is actually incredibly sad and such an invasion of privacy. Why are people like this fr? What was supposed to be a safe space for them to be nude and fulfill their roles as actors, instead someone violated them. So disgusting
— Nae (@naomialanna_) May 10, 2022
Between the Jesse Williams thing and the Patti LuPone thing, Broadway audiences are off the fucking rails this week.
— David Gordon (@MrDavidGordon) May 11, 2022
Kangol2
Mr. Jesse Williams might do us all a favor and star in a film, with wide viewership, in which he gets to appear nude. He clearly is comfortable doing so, he’s beautiful to look at, he can act, and I’m sure the film, if not terrible, would garner a decent viewership at the very least. I mean, if Michael Fassbender and others can do so, let’s make it happen!
inbama
It’s an impressive leak, but I’m reminded of the 1995 Broadway production of “Indiscretions” starring Kathleen Turner and Jude Law.
The audience gasped while Law ran around the stage stark naked with what had to have been a thick 10 inch appendage swinging from his lithe frame.
Five years later, someone leaked shots of him undressing at the beach and there were cruel comments everywhere regarding the size or lack of, actually. And before you ask, no. Nobody is that much a grower.
nitejonboy
Well if you watch THE TALENTED MR RIPLEY You see him naked when he steps out of a bathtub, and he was not as long as you described him onstage but the water was probably cold haha
Kangol2
True. Some shows and actors request/require prostheses, and I don’t gainsay them that. But sometimes, as in Williams’s case, or as when I saw Daniel Sunjata (in the same role back in 2003) and Gbengba Akinnagbe onstage, it’s all them.
white-queer-african
@nitejonboy, don’t take the bait and respond to the moron troll @inbama. Just one of the multiple screennames the imbecile uses to attack and trigger us gay folks.
inbama
@white-queer-african
What the hell is wrong with you?
I shared an actual memory and was curious if anyone else was still around to have seen it as well.
Maybe you should see a psychiatrist to find out why YOU are trolling ME with insane accusations.
Paulie P
Its like Cohen has never seen a d before… and i am sure he saw the stage play Hair… nude, nude and nude.
Mack
Love that play. Saw it at the Aquarius Theater when it first came out in 1969.
ncman
what is the controversy all about? When this plan ran originally, pictures of ALL the nude actors appeared on the internet. Not just of the lead actor. Google it.
Godabed
I think people forget, phones have a camera function, they aren’t cameras. Cameras still exist, so even if they checked the phone. The people could have still had a camera. People generally also don’t go through metal detectors.
The man is blessed, I saw the photos, but like others have said if the theater went through such lengths to stop being from taking images and the person did it anyway. It just shows there character, they probably thought they could sell the photos and make some big money because he’s a celebrity.
Andrew
It is definitely against the theater rules, but… as a performer who has been naked on stage, if you are going to be nude in public (and theater is public) then you can’t be upset about someone seeing your private parts. (they are no longer private). It is kind of freeing to appear naked. You worry less about someone seeing you naked. (talking to you millennials.)
Brian
“This is why we can’t have nice things.”
MikeInWeHo
You get naked in front of a Broadway audience and then get upset when someone takes a picture? Give me a break. You forfeit your privacy rights when you GET NAKED FRONT OF HUNDREDS OF STRANGERS.
Andrew
I don’t think Jessie Williams is the one upset. It seems to be other people.
SiamSean
Exactly Mike- One cannot expect privacy when appearing on stage in public. His supposed shyness is fabricated. The play is simply an effort to gain notoriety and money from nudity. This is what the “arts” have become. Shame on all of them, and their audience.
ScottOnEarth
Aside from the sad losers who can’t control their excitement over seeing a stranger’s penis, the real news is that adorable, out-and-proud actor, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, is in this play. I’m sorry Queerty doesn’t even bother mentioning that JTF, a wonderful representative of the “community” is in a Broadway show.
Andrew
Plus he is hot and hung.
Toofie
Look, it was rude someone took video. However, there has to be some expectation that it would happen at some point.
bachy
I came across that pendulous, African/Swedish schwanz quite by accident online, and the aggressive, dangling-in-your-face photo angle was frankly triggering! Talk about feeling violated!
CNY1983
although to be fair, if you take a viagra it does get engorged even if youre not aroused.
Man About Town
He gets naked on stage (as do others in this particular play; I saw the 2003 original) and people (including Mr. Valentino) are calling the leaked video a violation of privacy? Ca ne make sense pas!
Ken A.
It happens. You can make all the policies you want but someone will always find a way around it. His dick is one of millions now on the internet and will be lost in the shuffle. Those pics will resurface regardless of take down orders and besides he doesn’t seem to upset over it. Now he’s more popular.
MISTERJETT
it was inevitable that a photo or video would get out. look at it, watch it, enjoy it and go on to something else.
james7
OK, I want to see it too; but have goggled and scanned the internet and can’t find it.
SDR94103
gay vibes all around. thank you.
cuteguy
There is so much free porn, not a big deal. Yes he’s gorgeous in the leaked video but at the end of the day there is so much free porn out there for this to be called a scandal
nm4047
I read this ‘article’ twice and still am not sure what was the weird part. Clearly this stage production will have sell out session with this publicity, object achieved.
Walker
On the one hand, it’s not cool to break the rules and it’s a little weird that someone was so desperate to get pics that they found a way to get past the TSA levels of screening at the theater. On the other hand, the hysterical faux outrage and pearl clutching that he was “assaulted” and had his “privacy” violated is a little rich. Nudity is private when it’s in a private place, not when you’re getting paid very well to appear nude in front of thousands of people over the course of a play’s run. You can’t be shocked and violated that strangers saw you naked in one medium and completely unfazed when they see you in another.
Photos have been leaked of nude actors in nudie plays since well before the Internet or cellphones. Next we’ll hear how standard run of the mill bootlegs of musicals are also violating perfomers’ privacy because really they’re very shy and don’t like to be heard singing.
Also, call me a cynic, but it’s fishy the only person whose photos have been leaked is also the person in the play who is most well-endowed (yes I’ve seen the play and all the cast penises involved) . I’d lay fifty/fifty odds the camera was wielded by a friend of the actor’s.
Joshooeerr
Surely top of the list of those reacting as if they’ve never seen a penis before would be Queerty! How many times are you going to headline this non-story?
Inspector 57
Exactly.
RandomGuy
Word online now is that it was a stunt to boost ticket sales.
woodroad34
This is my jaded side coming out…but I didn’t know this play was happening until the ‘picture’ came out. With the Covid thing cutting into revenues, I can’t help but think there’s some kind of subrosa advertising going on here to get seats filled. I remember a similar play taking place several years ago about a closeted boxer with a similar scene (can’t remember the name of the play). Everyone went there to see the naked boxer — I just remember the older queens gasping when the boxer went naked; you could practically feel the breeze from all the fans being fluttered.