The Actors’ Equity Association is speaking out against the audience member who recorded a naked Jesse Williams in the Broadway revival of Take Me Out and then shared it on social media.
via People:
Williams, who was nominated for a Tony Award Monday — the same day that video from the show leaked on the internet — stars as a gay baseball player in the Richard Greenberg play. Much of the Tony Award-winning piece is set in a locker room, and the actors go full-frontal during a shower scene.
AEA, made up of more than 51,000 individuals in the theater industry, addressed the video leak in a statement released Tuesday.
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms the creation and distribution of photographs and videos of our members during a nude scene,” said Kate Shindle, president of Actors’ Equity Association. “As actors, we regularly agree to be vulnerable onstage in order to tell difficult and challenging stories. This does not mean that we agree to have those vulnerable moments widely shared by anyone who feels like sneaking a recording device into the theater.”
The statement noted that the person who filmed the Grey’s Anatomy alum, 40, and other actors on stage did so “without their consent” and condemns the audience member for “explicitly violating the theater’s prohibition on recording and distribution.”
“At every performance, there is a mutual understanding between the audience and the performers that we are sharing an experience limited to this time and place; that trust makes it possible for us to be exposed both emotionally and physically,” the statement continued, labeling the act as “both sexual harassment and an appalling breach of consent.”
“It is a violation that impedes our collective ability to tell stories with boldness and bravery,” it concluded.
The show’s producer, Second Stage Theater, also released a statement, referencing its “phone-free” policy for the show “with locked phone cases at all performances.”
“We are appalled that this policy has been violated and unauthorized footage of our acting company has been posted. It is deeply unfortunate that one audience member chose to disrespect the production, their fellow audience members and, most importantly, the cast in this manner. Taking naked pictures of anyone without their consent is highly objectionable and can have severe legal consequences,” it added in part.
“Posting it on the internet is a gross and unacceptable violation of trust between the actor and audience forged in the theatre community.”
Second Stage said that it is working on getting the posts removed and requested that the photos of Williams aren’t shared. The theater company added that it is expanding its staff to help implement its phone policy.
Costar Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who was also Tony-nominated for his performance in the play, re-shared Second Stage’s statement and added, “I’m appalled by the disrespect shown to the actors of our company whose vulnerability on stage ever[y] night is crucial to Take Me Out. Anyone who applauds or trivializes this behavior has no place in the theater which has always been a safe space for artists & audience members.”
He added, “And truly, if nudity is what you are coming for…you are in for a long boring night. It’s within a challenging 2 and a half hour play with big ideas, beautiful language & remarkable acting from a company of 11 actors that you will have to sit thru as well. You’ll be bored. Trust.”
On Monday’s episode of Watch What Happens Live, Williams spoke about the scene with host Andy Cohen.
When asked by Cohen about stripping down in front of an audience every night, Williams replied: “Everyone around me [was] going, ‘Are you serious? Are you sure? Nude, nude? Naked?’ And everybody makes such a big deal. It’s a body. Once you see it, you realize, whatever. It’s a body. I just have to not make it that big of a deal.”
You can read Second Stage’s full response to the situation below.
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The post Actors’ Equity Calls Jesse Williams’ Nude Video Leak ‘Sexual Harassment’ and a ‘Breach of Consent’ + Second Stage Theater Calls for Added Security appeared first on LOVEBSCOTT.
