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- Jason Momoa was asked whether he regrets performing sexual assault scenes in "Game of Thrones."
- After the question, he gave short answers and the interview ended abruptly.
- But before the end, Momoa criticized the reporter for asking what he described as an "icky" question.
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An interview between Jason Momoa and The New York Times' David Marchese turned sour after the actor was asked whether he regrets performing a sexual assault scene during his time on "Game of Thrones."
The scene in question is from the "Game of Thrones" pilot episode where an arranged wedding between Momoa's character Khal Drogo and Emilia Clarke's Daenerys ends in a graphic rape sequence.
When initially asked whether he regrets the scene or thinks "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 short, closed answers to all of Marchese's questions. When asked whether he was "able to articulate" his vision for the "Aquaman" franchise, which he leads, Momoa said: "No."
HBO
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."
"I wanted to bring something up that left a bad feeling in my stomach. 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," Momoa 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."
Insider has reached out to Momoa and The New York Times for extra comment.
The "Game of Thrones" TV series has often been criticized for its handling of sexual assault and rape in its storylines. And the rape scene at the end of the "Game of Thrones" pilot has often been particularly divisive as it was originally written as consensual by George R.R. Martin in the "Game of Thrones" books.
Last year, the author told Entertainment Weekly's editor-at-large James Hibberd that he and showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss never discussed changing that scene and he believed that it made the pilot worse.