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Jason Isaacs breaks silence on school’s response to representation in ‘The White Lotus’ ‘The White Lotus’ star Jason Isaacs talks about representation of school in series Jason Isaacs may have left the chaos of The White Lotus s eason 3 behind, but the t-shirt he wore as Timothy Ratliff is still making waves—especially in Durham, North Carolina. The 61-year-old actor, who played the troubled, gun-wielding father of three on the HBO hit, ended up in a meme-worthy moment when his character raised a gun to his head while wearing a Duke University tee. The internet ran wild.
Duke? Not so much. In fact, the school wasn’t exactly thrilled. They released a statement expressing concern that the use of their logo on such “troubling” imagery might imply an unwanted connection.
Isaacs, however, is not losing sleep over the controversy. “I found the whole thing faintly amusing,” he shared on the April 8 episode of the Prestige Junkie podcast. “I don’t like anyone getting upset about anything, but clearly it was just someone fancy seeing their name and in some department wanting to go viral.
” He didn’t stop there. “Their real-life alumni are such a rogue’s gallery, many of them. The notion that this rather spiritually-enlightened character on television caused them any trouble is fanciful and ridiculous.
” As it turns out, Isaacs didn’t even mean to pick Duke. His history with the Carolinas goes way back to filming The Patriot in Rock Hill, South Carolina. “I was just over the border in South Carolina,” he said.
“We were in Rock Hill. I went to Charlotte quite often. I went to North Carolina.
I’m an explorer. At the time, I was playing a lot of golf. So I went to a lot of golf clubs and I met an awful lot of Ratliffs.
” Fate (and a canceled flight) played a role in his wardrobe. Isaacs arrived at The White Lotus season finale screening on April 6 in a Duke Blue Devils shirt—yep, the same kind he wore in the show. But there’s a twist: he bought it at the Charlotte airport because the airline canceled his flight and took his bags.
“I bought the t-shirt because the airline canceled my flight and took my bags away and I had nothing to change into,” Isaacs explained. “It was the only outlet there.” At first, he didn’t even know what school the shirt represented.
Once he found out, though, he leaned in. “I also thought it might cause a bit of mischief,” he admitted with a grin. Meanwhile, Duke’s Vice President for Communications, Marketing and Public Affairs, Frank Tramble, laid out the school’s official stance to The New York Times on March 26.
“Duke appreciates artistic expression and creative storytelling. But characters prominently wearing apparel bearing Duke’s federally registered trademarks creates confusion and mistakenly suggests an endorsement or affiliation where none exists.” Tramble added, The White Lotus “not only uses our brand without permission, but in our view uses it on imagery that is troubling, does not reflect our values or who we are, and simply goes too far.
” In the end, Isaacs’ accidental fashion statement became a whole conversation. Mischief managed..
