Nude Footage of Jesse Williams Leaks From His Broadway Show, ‘Take Me Out’

Fresh off his first Tony nomination, Jesse Williams began trending late Monday night after nude images and video of the star in Broadway’s Take Me Out began circulating online. The footage hit Twitter hours after he was nominated for best performance by a featured actor in a play at the Tony Awards.

In the production, Williams plays a successful gay baseball player who faces personal and professional repercussions after coming out at his career’s peak. The Grey’s Anatomy alum is nude at some point during the show, which Williams said “terrified” him at first. “But then I noted that that was what I asked God for,” he told Page Six of the role. “I asked to be terrified. I asked to do something that was scary and challenging and made me earn it and made me feel alive and not comfortable.”

In order to protect Williams and the play’s other nude actors from prying audience members, Second Stage’s Hayes Theater requires all ticket holders to place their phones in sealed Yondr cases before the show. Guests may hold on to their devices as long as they remain locked “out of respect and support for our actors and in order to create a phone-free space,” according to the theater’s website.

Williams recently spoke about the nudity during a Monday appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, which was reportedly filmed prior to the leak. When asked about the audience reaction to his nudity, Williams said, “A non-reaction is a really interesting reaction. The quiet, you know. Creates a lot of insecurity.” The actor continued, saying, “I don’t like any of it. I’ve learned in my minutes in theater, which is all a first for me, is don’t try to read into it because it just creates more insecurity.” Williams also told Cohen that he “won’t be scared of anything after this [experience], that’s for sure.”

Patrick J. Adams, who plays one of Williams’s teammates, told the New York Daily News that taking phones from audiences has “been a magical experience, just getting everyone off their phone for two hours.” Adams also noted the peace of mind that comes with keeping devices tucked away. “It’s certainly nice to know that we’re safe onstage, being naked and not being recorded,” he said.

On Monday, Take Me Out received four Tony nominations, including best revival of a play and best-featured-actor-in-a-play nods for Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Michael Oberholtzer, and Williams.