Jason Isaacs Responds to Duke-‘White Lotus’ Drama: “Fanciful and Ridiculous”

Jason Isaacs‘ stay at The White Lotus is over, but the drama between Duke University and the HBO show still lingers.

In the sixth episode, when Issacs’ character Timothy Ratliff contemplates suicide with a gun, he’s wearing a T-shirt with his alma mater, Duke’s logo on it. The University wasn’t pleased with the publicity and its vice president for communications, Frank Tremble, shared a statement to the New York Times to condemn it. “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.”

Despite the controversy, a few weeks later, at the finale screening for the series, Isaacs wore another Duke T-shirt, but this time with the school’s Blue Devil mascot on it. During a recent appearance on the Prestige Junkie podcast, Isaacs admits he bought the shirt after his flight was canceled and had no other clothes. “I found the whole thing faintly amusing,” he said about the feud.

“I don’t like anyone getting upset about anything, but clearly, it was just someone fancying seeing their name online and, in some department, wanting to go viral,” Isaacs continued. “Their real-life alumni are such a rogue’s gallery, many of them, that the notion that this rather spiritually enlightened character on television caused them any trouble is fanciful and ridiculous.”

While some students were also upset with the use of their school’s logo, Alex Berkman, a Duke sophomore, told THR, “To me, it’s never that serious. It’s television — it’s really high-quality television.”