A lot of bitter rivalries were born on this season of The White Lotus, but none seem to have transcended the screen quite so much as Jason Isaacs vs. Duke University. It all started when Isaacs’ character, Timothy Ratliff, held a gun to his temple while wearing a Duke t-shirt in a mid-season episode. He didn’t pull the trigger, but that didn’t matter to the incensed administration. “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,” Frank Tramble, Duke’s vice president for communications, marketing, and public affairs said in a statement. (The fact that the image of Isaacs with the gun doubled as a ready-made meme for Duke’s March Madness rivals probably didn’t help the situation.)
But Isaacs, who’s been a bit of a loose cannon this entire press tour, couldn’t help but “cause a bit of mischief.” Earlier this month, the actor wore a shirt bearing the Blue Devil, Duke’s mascot, to a finale screening event, pouring a bit more salt in the wound. To hear him tell it on a recent episode of the Prestige Junkie podcast, the shirt was actually one of his only options. Apparently, he bought it at a kiosk at the Charlotte airport after his airline lost his luggage because “it fit and I do love blue.” Celebs—they’re just like us!
“I didn’t even know that the devil… I didn’t know it was their team. It was the only thing that didn’t say Duke on it,” he claimed. “But once I found out I thought it would be a fun thing to wear for the photographs.”
All in all, while Isaacs “[doesn’t] like anyone getting upset about anything,” he found the whole kerfuffle “faintly amusing.” “Clearly, it was just someone fancying seeing their name online and, in some department, wanting to go viral,” the actor surmised. “[Duke’s] 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.” If Mike White wants to go really meta, there has to be a fancy hotel somewhere near Durham, NC where he could film. He’s already got the conflict and “rogue’s gallery” of eccentric millionaires sorted. Isaacs just needs to watch his back and try not to drink any mysterious protein shakes on or around campus.
