It’s been quite the year for The Bear star Jeremy Allen White, and it’s only 9 January. Towards the end of last week, the 32-year-old actor unintentionally caused a media storm when new JAWdropping (if you’ll excuse the pun…) pictures of him and his heavily chiselled abs were released for Calvin Klein’s latest underwear campaign (cue a sea of ‘yes chefs’ on social media).
Then, on Sunday, he picked up his second Best Actor Golden Globe for his powerhouse performance as frazzled chef-on-the-edge Carmen ‘Carmy’ Berzatto. Perhaps unsurprisingly, journalists were keen to link the two events in his post-win press conference, but what was more unexpected was that three out of the four questions asked of him focused on his tighty whities.
'When you’re on the red carpet and speaking to us, how surreal is it that people are talking more about your underwear and your six pack than your powerful and astonishing performances?' asked The Mirror’s James Desborough. Blinking a few times but taking the line of questioning in his stride, White replied: 'It is strange. It’s been a weird couple of days. It is bizarre doing Calvin Klein and now it is even more bizarre having it come out, but everything feels OK for now.'
Following on from this, he was asked what he was prouder of – his Golden Globe win, or the Calvin Klein campaign. 'This is a prouder moment, I am more proud of this… prideful in both but this is more pride…' he stuttered, looking increasingly uncomfortable but definitely trying to downplay it. Even Ayo Edebiri was asked several times about her The Bear co-star's underwear shoot, despite her taking home the award for Best Performance by a Female Actor.
Not to sound all 'when is International Men’s Day' about it (it’s 19th November, FYI) but if the same line of questioning was applied to a female winner, wouldn’t we be up in arms about it? Can you even imagine? 'Zendaya, congratulations on your win. BTW, you looked super hot in your recent swimsuit ad.' No, we didn’t think so.
Look, we get it. There’s a lot of misery in the world right now, and it’s January – some of us need JAW’s six pack to brighten our days. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. It also goes without saying that as a Calvin Klein model, JAW knew what he was signing up for when they handed him those tiny, white pants – in the same way that a Victoria’s Secret Angel would be unsurprised that people were commenting on her waist-to-hips ratio – in many ways, it’s the raison d’etre of the campaign, to get people talking.
And it should also be said that women bear the brunt of unwanted objectification and attention from the male gaze, day in, day out – sometimes with violent consequences. Being embarrassed during a press conference is in no way akin to that. Yet at what point does the reaction to JAW in his kecks go too far and veer into becoming a double standard?
Hollywood hunks have walked the ‘take me seriously for my craft and don’t objectify me for my looks’ tightrope before, with varying results. In 2016, Game of Thrones star Kit Harington raised eyebrows when he said to Vanity Fair, 'I like to think of myself as more than a head of hair or a set of looks. It’s demeaning. Yes in some ways you could argue I’ve been employed for a look I have. But there’s a sexism that happens towards men.' (It’s the latter sound bite that caused the most uproar).
A few months later, The Tourist and Fifty Shades of Grey actor (and Calvin Klein alumni) Jamie Dornan added his voice to the debate, albeit in a relatively balanced way, saying: 'I feel very subjective a lot of the time at work. So I wouldn’t say I’m relatively not objectified in the workplace. I am. It’s not just the women, but men too.'
The internet’s current boyfriend, Jacob Elordi,star of Priscilla and Saltburn, has also spoken about the double standard. At the start of his career, for his role in Kissing Booth, the script required him to get into seriously good shape. Speaking to Men’s Health in 2020, he said, 'Everyone wanted to talk about my body… it really f***ing bothered me. I don’t identify with that whatsoever. I was trying to prove myself and be known as an actor.'
And while yes, a chorus of women read that last line and thought, 'now you know how it feels,' two wrongs don’t necessarily make a right, do they?
Perhaps the whole debate is best summed up by Ryan Gosling, who simply said when asked about it: 'It’s our time as men to be on the receiving end of the stick.' Chef’s kiss indeed.