Jesse Williams Responds to Leaked Nude Broadway Play Footage: ‘I’m Not Really Worrying About That’

The actor performed full frontal nude during several scenes in the Broadway play, Take Me Out, a role for which he also earned a Tony nomination for last week.

Nearly a week after leaked nude video footage of Greyโ€™s Anatomy star Jesse Williamsโ€™ performance in the Broadway play Take Me Out went viral on the internet, the actor himself is finally speaking out about the matter.

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Speaking with the Associated Press over the weekend, Williams remained determined to press on with the show and assured folks that he was still in good spirits despite it all.

โ€œIโ€™m not down about it. Our job is to go out there every night, no matter what,โ€ he explained. โ€œIโ€™m not really worrying about it. I canโ€™t sweat that. We do need to keep advocating for ourselves. And itโ€™s wonderful to see a community push back and make clear what we do stand for, what we donโ€™t. Consent is important, I thought. So, letโ€™s keep that in mind universally.โ€

He further added, โ€œTheater is a sacred space, and everybody doesnโ€™t understand that. Everybody doesnโ€™t necessarily respect or regard that in a way that maybe they should, or weโ€™d like.โ€

As previously reported by The Root, consent and respect were also values the Actorโ€™s Equity Association and Second Stage Theater brought up in their rebuke of the leaked footage last week.

โ€œAs 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. Whoever did this knew not only that they were filming actors without their consent, but also that they were explicitly violating the theaterโ€™s prohibition on recording and distribution,โ€ the organizations said in a joint statement.

Second Stage further added: โ€œTaking naked pictures of anyone without their consent is highly objectionable and can have severe legal consequences. Posting it on the internet is a gross and unacceptable violation of trust between the actor and audience forged in the theatre community.โ€

Williams made his Broadway debut with Take Me Out, which centers around Darren Lemming, the star center fielder for the Empires, who โ€œcomes out of the closet. The reception off the field reveals a barrage of long-held unspoken prejudices. Facing some hostile teammates and fraught friendships, Darren is forced to contend with the challenges of being a gay person of color within the confines of a classic American institution. As the Empires struggle to rally toward a championship season, the players and their fans begin to question tradition, their loyalties, and the price of victory.โ€ The play is written by Tony Award-winning playwright Richard Greenberg.

Williams is currently in the running to win Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play at this yearโ€™s Tony Awards which are set to take place Sunday, June 12, hosted by Tony and Academy Award-winning actress Ariana DeBose.

Straight From The Root

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