Jason Isaacs Defends Transgender Comedian Exposing Herself on Live TV

Harry Potter actor Jason Isaacs has posted a defense of British transgender comedian Jordan Gray who exposed herself on live television.

While performing on the British comedy show Friday Night Live on October 21, Gray ended a comedy song by unexpectedly stripping off her clothes and performing naked, using her penis to play notes on the piano. The move caused controversy in the U.K., but many people, including Isaacs, spoke out and supported Gray.

A week later, on the night of Sunday October 30, Isaacs felt the need to clarify his stance and posted a lengthy statement on Twitter. He suggested that anyone bothered by his support for Gray is "just angry. And confused."

Gray is a 33-year-old transgender comedian whose pronouns are listed as she/her. She was formerly a musician who competed on The Voice UK before transitioning to comedy. After performing her song "Better Than You" on Friday Night Live, Gray took off her pink jumpsuit and paraded her naked body before continuing to play the piano and finish the song. Many viewers accused her of indecent exposure with Ofcom, the British equivalent of regulators the Federal Communications Commission, receiving over 1,400 complaints.

Isaacs was one of many to voice their support for Gray, highlighting that she'd just shown off her "magnificent boobs and equally magnificent member, with which she played the keyboard as she brought her set to a close and the entire house down."

Not everyone was a fan though. Isaacs was slammed by many in the comments section after his tweet. Madeline Kearns of the National Review called Gray's stunt "peak trans" and "peak depravity."

However, Gray commented on how positive the coverage had been in the U.K. press overall, and thanked it for its "incredible support."

More than a week after the initial incident, Isaacs, known for playing Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter movie series, felt the need to expand on his point.

"What's really going on with your outrage when someone strips off on a late night edgy comedy show, well after the ratings watershed and where the presence of adult material and nudity has been warned against and is almost ubiquitous?" he wrote.

"Maybe since nudity and sex is everywhere on the channel […], the problem is that, this time, the naked body was transgender? And/or that I called Jordan's boobs and penis magnificent?"

Isaacs called the exposure of Gray's a magnificent and subversive act, making for sensational television.

He continued: "Yes, 'her' penis. An enormous number of people dredged the barrel of playground taunts to find names to call me and Jordan for that grammatical courtesy. Yes it felt like an unusual thing to type, but I knew that's what she'd like as a transgender woman so I did it."

Isaacs went on to compare this preference to his own situation as a Jewish man. He stated he'd rather be referred to as "Jewish" than as "a Jew."

He also tackled the argument of indecent exposure within Gray's act.

"Many people wrote that her disrobing was akin to flashing or a criminal assault from a sexual predator and would be triggering to children or adult survivors of attacks who were watching the show. Would I sanction a man indecently exposing himself to my two daughters or on the wards of the children's hospital I support, some asked?

"Er… no. But you knew that, didn't you? Just like you know the difference between a late night TV comedy show and a traumatic private encounter on the street or in the home."

He added, "You're just angry. And confused."

"Maybe it's about the other genuinely controversial issues surrounding trans women: access to women only spaces, early surgical and pharmaceutical intervention, legal definitions, sporting participation etc etc etc. All the minefield I was consciously nowhere near.

"I'm a straight, middle-aged whit cis male and know where my opinions are uninformed, unwelcome and unhelpful. Those are areas for serious debate between serious people, conducted with respect and compassion on all sides. Not on Twitter and not about this. And, I suspect, not with you.

"I just thought she was funny," Isaacs wrote, ending his public statement.

Gray showed her appreciation for Isaacs' support by retweeting the letter.

"What a legend. Thank you Jason! This means so much to so many people," she wrote.

Right-wing political commentator Matt Walsh spoke about Gray's stunt on his YouTube channel, pointing out that there was very little push back. He described the events of the video for his viewers saying he'll spare them the "horror" of watching the incident as they "need not suffer as I have suffered."

Isaacs stance on the subject of transgender women appears to be in contrast to that of Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling. For a number of years now, Rowling has been accused of supporting transphobic viewpoints.