Update, Saturday, May 14 at 3:00 p.m.: Jesse Williams has responded to the news of the leaked footage of his naked performance in Broadway’s Take Me Out. Williams told the Associated Press that he’s “not down about†the video leak and plans to continue performing. “Our job is to go out there every night, no matter what,†said Williams. “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. Consent is important, I thought. So, let’s keep that in mind universally.†Williams stars as Darren Lemming alongside his co-stars Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Michael Oberholtzer who have been condemning the leaked video on social media, the latter describing the incident as, “very disappointing.â€
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Broadway’s Take Me Out, a musical about the homophobia in baseball, only let audience members get one strike before sending them to the bullpen. Second Stage Theater, home to Take Me Out, announced it will do a quick changeup and install an infrared camera to prevent any more bootlegs of the show from leaking online, in response to a leaked video of Jesse Williams nude during the performance going viral. Audience members were already required to lock away their phones to prevent any filming, but it did not stop horny fans from venturing Yondr, a.k.a. finding a way to remove their phones from the locked pouches to sneak a picture. Williams, who was nominated for a Tony this week for his performance, declined to comment on the leaked video.
“Posting it on the internet is a gross and unacceptable violation of trust between the actor and audience forged in the theater community,†Second Stage said in a statement May 10. “We are actively pursuing takedown requests and ask that no one participates in the distribution of these images.†The director of the production, Peter Dean, told the New York Times that the new infrared cameras will allow the theater to “focus on an audience member who looks like they’re doing something suspicious.†An interesting choice of words for audience members batting out of turn. No one needs another Betrayal.