*The Broadway theater where Jesse Williams’ nude scene in the “Take Me Out” revival was filmed by an audience member and leaked is stepping up security.
The Helen Hayes Theater has installed a new infrared camera system facing the audience so attendees can be monitored by the venue’s security team, PEOPLE reports.
“This will allow us to focus on an audience member who looks like they’re doing something suspicious, and assess whether they’re just going through a purse to get a breath mint or pulling out a phone,” Peter Dean, director of production for Second Stage, told The New York Times.
READ MORE: Jesse Williams Breaks Internet After Naked Video Leaks of ‘Take Me Out’ Star
Williams is currently starring in the Broadway show “Take Me Out,” and folks are going wild because footage has leaked of him naked on stage.
An audience member snuck pictures and video of a recent performance and captured a full frontal of Williams during a shower scene of the play.
The play, “Take Me Out,” per the New York Post, “tells the story of a gay professional baseball player dealing with coming out to his teammates and in the press,” the outlet writes.
The nude footage of Williams, 40, leaked on social media the same day the Grey’s Anatomy alum was nominated for a Tony Award for his role as gay baseball player in the play, which is produced by Second Stage Theater. The Tony Award-winning piece has a full-frontal shower scene.
Second Stage Theater noted theater company’s “phone-free” policy. Attendees of the Broadway show, which opened last month, are required to put their phones in a sealed Yondr case before the show “out of respect and support for our actors and in order to create a phone-free space,” according to the theater’s website.
“We are appalled that this policy has been violated and unauthorized footage of our acting company has been posted. It is deeply unfortunate that one audience member chose to disrespect the production, their fellow audience members and, most importantly, the cast in this manner. Taking naked pictures of anyone without their consent is highly objectionable and can have severe legal consequences,” Second Stage said statement said.
“Posting it on the internet is a gross and unacceptable violation of trust between the actor and audience forged in the theatre community.”
Williams spoke about the situation with Andy Cohen on “Watch What Happens Live” Monday.
“Everyone around me [was] going, ‘Are you serious? Are you sure? Nude, nude? Naked?’ And everybody makes such a big deal. It’s a body. Once you see it, you realize, whatever. It’s a body. I just have to not make it that big of a deal.”
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