Jason Momoa hit back at a journalist for asking about the rape scene scene in Game of Thrones, which saw his character Khal Drogo sexually assault Daenerys Targaryen.
The moment diverts from the original material lifted from the books of George RR Martin, which included a consensual sex scene on the couple’s wedding night.
Martin himself admitted he was bewildered by the change of direction, but Momoa really didn’t want to share his side of the matter.
‘Well, it was important to depict Drogo and his style,’ Momoa told a reporter for The New York Times.
‘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.’
He continued: ‘It’s not my job to go, ‘Would I not do it?’ 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.’
However, once the interview had ended, the actor reached out to the journalist to explain why he didn’t like their line of questioning.
‘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,’ he said.
‘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.’
Creator Martin said Game of Thrones showrunners DB Weiss and David Benioff ‘never discussed’ changing the scene from the books, adding: ‘It made it worse, not better.’
Weiss responded: ‘We just didn’t have that amount of time and access to the character’s mind. It turns too quickly.
‘It was something the actors themselves felt wasn’t gelling. They weren’t able to find an emotional handhold.’
Game of Thrones is available to stream on NOW TV.
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