Jason Momoa shuts down New York Times interview after 'icky' question about sexual assault in 'Game of Thrones'
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Jason Momoa was asked whether he regretted performing sexual-assault scenes in "Game of Thrones."
He gave short answers after the question, and the interview ended abruptly.
But before the end, Momoa criticized the reporter for asking what he called an "icky" question.
An interview between Jason Momoa and The New York Times' David Marchese turned sour after the actor was asked whether he regretted performing a sexual-assault scene during his time on "Game of Thrones."
The scene in question is from the "Game of Thrones" pilot episode, in which an arranged wedding between Momoa's character Khal Drogo and Emilia Clarke's Daenerys Targaryen ends in a graphic rape sequence.
Asked whether he regretted the scene or thought "differently today about those scenes," Momoa said: "Well, it was important to depict Drogo and his style. You're playing someone that's like Genghis Khan. It was a really, really, really hard thing to do. But my job was to play something like that, and it's not a nice thing, and it's what that character was. It's not my job to go, 'Would I not do it?'"
He added: "I've never really been questioned about 'Do you regret playing a role?' We'll put it this way: I already did it. Not doing it again."
After this question, however, Momoa started to recline from the interview, giving mostly short, closed answers to Marchese's remaining questions. Asked whether he was "able to articulate" his vision for the "Aquaman" franchise, which he leads, Momoa said: "No."
Later Marchese asked Momoa whether he had a particularly favorable memory from his time traveling the world in the 1990s, to which Momoa responded: "Not really for you. Or for the world."
Shortly after, Marchese attempted to wrap up the interview when Momoa interjected and criticized his earlier question about "Game of Thrones."
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"I wanted to bring something up that left a bad feeling in my stomach," he began. "When you brought up 'Game of Thrones,' you brought up stuff about what's happening with my character and would I do it again. I was bummed when you asked me that.
"It just feels icky - putting it upon me to remove something. As if an actor even had the choice to do that. We're not really allowed to do anything. There are producers, there are writers, there are directors, and you don't get to come in and be like, 'I'm not going do that because this isn't kosher right now and not right in the political climate.' That never happens. So it's a question that feels icky. I just wanted you to know that."
Momoa and The New York Times did not immediately respond to requests from Insider for extra comment.
The "Game of Thrones" TV series has often been criticized for its handling of sexual assault and rape in its storylines. The rape scene at the end of the pilot has been particularly divisive, as George R.R. Martin wrote it as consensual in the "Game of Thrones" books.
Last year, the author told Entertainment Weekly's editor-at-large, James Hibberd, that he and the showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss never discussed changing the scene and that he believed it made the pilot worse.
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