HBO
During the third season of the hit HBO series The White Lotus, a batch of characters, the uppity Ratliff family, were proudly North Carolina born-and-bred, and as a result, were alums of both UNC and Duke. Duke, in particular, was featured quite a bit in the series via the elder Ratliff’s t-shirts.
In an embarrassing move, Duke released a statement slamming HBO for the use of the Duke logo in its show, saying that the logo was used “on imagery that is troubling.” Duke was reference Timothy Ratliff, played by Jason Isaacs, imagining doing a murder-suicide to himself and his family.
“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. [It] 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,” the university said in a statement in the midst of The White Lotus’ third season.
Actor Jason Isaacs, however — who portrayed the Duke t-shirt-wearing Timothy Ratliff — seemed to find the humor in Duke’s statement, as he clowned on them during a recent appearance on Rob Lowe’s podcast.
“I didn’t wear [a Duke T-shirt] today, if I’d known [Lowe’s son was a Duke alum,] I’d have it on now. But I am intending to wear them whenever there’s a camera around, so sorry, Duke. There goes my honorary degree,” Isaac said while on Rob Lowe’s podcast.
The White Lotus creator Mike White recently said he plans on taking a little break before he starts writing the fourth season of this summer.
Content shared from brobible.com.