Posted in: HBO, Max, Opinion, TV, TV | Tagged: opinion, The White Lotus

The White Lotus: Duke University Makes Impactful Moment All About Them

Duke University isn't a fan of Timothy's (Jason Isaacs) fashion choice during an impactful scene from HBO and Mike White's The White Lotus.

When it comes to the third season of series creator, writer, and director Mike White's The White Lotus, there are a whole lot of characters, storylines, and moments that fans have been discussing and debating since the season first started. One of those characters is Jason Isaacs's businessman Timothy Ratliff, who found himself contemplating suicide during a recent episode as a means of avoiding prosecution for some shady business dealings. Whatever you think about the character and what he's done, it's still a powerfully intense scene. It's also a scene that Duke University is taking issue with – why? Because of Tim's fashion choice.

During the scene, Tim is wearing a t-shirt from his alma mater – Duke University. Well, let's just say that the famed university wasn't too thrilled to be making a "guest appearance" during those moments. "Duke appreciates artistic expression and creative storytelling, but characters prominently wearing apparel bearing Duke's federally registered trademarks creates confusion and mistakenly suggests an endorsement or affiliation where none exists," noted Duke's vice president for communications, marketing and public affairs, Frank Tramble, to The New York Times. Tramble would go on to add that the series "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."

If Duke has some legal claim and they want to follow through on it? Hey, that's their right to do. They want to respect their trademarks and copyrights. But from a common sense perspective, if you asked us the next day what t-shirt Isaacs was wearing during the scene, we wouldn't have been able to tell you. That's because we were focusing on Isaacs's performance – not his clothing – like viewers are supposed to do. Also, we're not buying into the idea that anyone would watch that scene, and one of their biggest takeaways would be, "Wow, Tim's problems must be because he's a Duke alum." Again, it's a weird move overall because a t-shirt was the one thing I didn't see anyone discussing after the episode aired – at least, until Duke made it a thing.

The cast for the award-winning, critically acclaimed HBO series' third season is an impressive one. We're talking Leslie Bibb, Carrie Coon, Walton Goggins, Sarah Catherine Hook, Jason Isaacs, Lalisa Manobal, Michelle Monaghan, Sam Nivola, Lek Patravadi, Parker Posey, Natasha Rothwell, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Tayme Thapthimthong, and Aimee Lou Wood. In addition, Nicholas Duvernay, Arnas Fedaravičius, Christian Friedel, Scott Glenn, Dom Hetrakul, Julian Kostov, Charlotte Le Bon, Morgana O'Reilly, and Shalini Peiris have joined the cast.

Created, written, and directed by Mike White, HBO's The White Lotus is executive-produced by White, David Bernad, and Mark Kamine. The first installment of the series – which premiered in July 2021 – was set in Hawaii and received 20 Emmy nominations across 13 categories and 10 wins (the most wins of any program that year, including Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series). The second installment of the series – which premiered in December 2022 – was set in Sicily and garnered 23 Emmy nominations (including Outstanding Drama Series) and five wins.

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