The White Lotus Dad Who Reminded Us Why Speaking Truth Still Matters
The Jim Acosta Show
Jim Acosta
4.9 • 634 Ratings
🗓️ 26 June 2025
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
While Jim is taking some much-needed time off, our team thought this was the perfect moment to resurface one of your favorite conversations from earlier this year. Jim’s chat with Jason Isaacs struck a nerve with so many of you – and for good reason.
When we first aired this interview, Jason had just wrapped his unforgettable turn as the pill-popping, spiraling dad in White Lotus, but he was here to talk about something far more serious: his film "Words of War," about murdered Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. What started as a conversation about Hollywood quickly became one of the most honest discussions we’ve had about the state of our democracy and the threats facing press freedom.
Jason didn't hold back – as a Brit who works extensively in America, he offered the kind of outside perspective we desperately need to hear. From funding cuts to public media to the self-censorship happening in newsrooms across the country, we covered it all. And yes, we also talked about why Duke University was so mad at him for wearing their t-shirt while playing a character having a complete breakdown.
The response was overwhelming. You told us this interview helped you understand why protecting independent journalism isn't just about media – it's about preserving the foundations of democracy itself.
In a time when it's easier to retreat into our bubbles, Jason reminded us why it's crucial to keep speaking up, keep asking questions, and keep doing something rather than nothing.
That message feels even more urgent today.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Let's do it. Okay. All right. Go ahead. |
| 0:01.6 | All right. Welcome everybody at the Jim Acosta show, where it's an embarrassment of riches in terms of guests. |
| 0:06.9 | Today we have the star of White Lotus and the political thriller Words of War. |
| 0:11.5 | Jason Isaacs. Jason, of course, played Timothy Ratliff, the spiraling, pill-popping, and occasionally pantsless dad in season three of White Lotus. He was also, of course, |
| 0:23.1 | Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies. He's here to talk about Words of War, which is a |
| 0:27.6 | completely different project. Jason, great to see it. Thanks for coming on. No, it's a pleasure. |
| 0:33.9 | I see that sign behind you as your audience will see, you know, Jim Acosta on a free press, and that's what this film is about. And we're talking on a day, |
| 0:40.8 | I don't know when people watch this, where it's never more appropriate to talk about that, |
| 0:44.1 | because an executive order just came from the White House to cancel all funding for public media |
| 0:48.3 | for essentially for an independent free press. That's right. And I do want to talk to you about it, but since you mentioned it, |
| 0:54.3 | you're absolutely right. I mean, the arts are under attack here in Washington. The AP is reporting |
| 0:58.9 | this morning. Trump signed an executive order aiming to slash public subsidies to PBS and NPR, |
| 1:04.5 | as he alleged bias in their reporting. The order instructs the corporation for public broadcasting |
| 1:10.7 | other federal |
| 1:11.2 | agencies to, quote, cease federal funding for NPR and PBS. I mean, Jason, you're, you can |
| 1:18.3 | The only services that are telling the truth to people, from commercial constraints. |
| 1:22.6 | That's right. That's right. We do a little of that here, but you're absolutely, I mean, you're a Britain, |
| 1:27.9 | we were just talking about this before we got going. In Great Britain, you have the BBC, you have |
| 1:33.0 | public broadcasting. It's what's expected by the citizens. Sure. I mean, look, it's not that the BBC |
| 1:39.2 | is perfect by any means. There's all kinds of question marks over it and what it does with its money |
| 1:43.5 | and what its own political biases are. But there's just not to be too cheesy and get back on the soapbox, |
| 1:49.6 | but the film is about a remarkable woman, an ordinary woman. She was a human interest journalist who |
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