While Take Me Out (and newly minted Tony-nominated) standout Jesse Williams might have said last week that appearing on-stage nude by simply saying “it’s a body”, everyone who got a gander at his leaked nude shots from his onstage performance in Take Me Out most definitely agree that Williams’ performance is anything but ordinary. While Williams comments on Watch What Happens Live occurred before the leak set fire to the internet, Williams has finally spoken out post-leak, and his comments are as expected, as calm and understated as the performer himself.
Williams said in an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday that while he is disappointed about the nude leak, he has every intention to keep doing the job he was hired (and Tony-nominated) to do. He said “I’m not down about it. Our job is to go out there every night, no matter what,” Williams told The AP on Thursday. Both the producers and the actors union spoke out strongly against the leak, and Williams responded to that saying “I’m not really worrying about it. I can’t sweat that. We do need to keep advocating for ourselves. And it’s wonderful to see a community push back and make clear what we do stand for, what we don’t,” Williams acknowledged. “Consent is important, I thought. So, let’s keep that in mind universally.”
WATCH: @WhoopiGoldberg sprays water on @sunny during conversation about nude #JesseWilliams photo pic.twitter.com/KR1g524Bj0
— Jackson Richman (@jacksonrichman) May 11, 2022
While both the production of Take Me Out (as well as co-star Jesse Tyler Ferguson) both spoke out against the nude leak, the ladies of The View tried to inject some levity and humor into the subject. Last week, the co-hosts were discussing Williams appearance on stage in the buff. Sunny Hostin regaled Williams’ appearance, saying he looked like “a statue”, while Joy Behar plainly said that “when you travel to Florence, Italy, you look at the David statue over and over again”. Whoopi Goldberg simply said “the body is the body” and when Hostin went continued, saying that Williams “looked like The David”, Goldberg grabbed a spray bottle and playfully spritzed Hostin, saying “cool off”. Eagle-eyed viewers will remember that the spray bottle was instituted as a “View” prop in a now-legendary “SNL” skit as Goldberg (played by Leslie Jones) used it to cool off the battling co-hosts.
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