Jesse Tyler Ferguson is “appalled” by the leaked footage of his Take Me Out co-star Jesse Williams naked on stage.
Despite audience members being required to keep devices in sealed cases during the Broadway play, pictures and video of the “Grey’s Anatomy” actor baring all for a full-frontal nude scene circulated on social media on Monday.
The “Modern Family” actor, who stars alongside Williams in the play, condemned the leak on Twitter on Tuesday night.
“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.’ 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 wrote, before insisting that the nudity only features in a small portion of the show.
“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.”
Officials from Second Stage Theater, which produced the revival, also issued a statement about the footage.
“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,” they stated. “Taking 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 theater community.”
They went on to reveal they will be adding additional staff at the Hayes Theater to enforce their phone-free policy and are working to get the nudes taken down.
Jesse Williams has yet to comment on the leak.
He spoke about his nude scene earlier this week, telling talk show host Andy Cohen, “Everybody makes such a big deal. It’s a body. Once you see it, you realize it’s whatever… I just have to not make it that big of a deal.”
Williams, Ferguson, and their co-star Michael Oberholtzer were nominated for Tony Awards for their performances on Monday.
Me: https://t.co/I6StGfiD1G
