Dylan Sprouse Releases Statement in Response to His Nudes Leaking

He wants to own the situation like Beyoncé would want him to. Verbatim!

Not Available Lead
Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

Not Available Lead

In response to his nudes leaking this past weekend, former Disney star Dylan Sprouse has released a lengthy statement via his Tumblr page to tell his side of the story, and—verbatim—"own that shit like Beyonce would want me to." Yes, that is a real sentence! Whatever your opinion of Dylan Sprouse, you've gotta respect that.

Sprouse, if you're not aware, starred with his twin brother Cole on Disney's The Suite Life of Zack and Cody from 2005 to 2008, and on Disney's The Suite Life on Deck from 2008 to 2011. After the series ended, Sprouse went on to become a student at NYU, and is currently studying video game design.

The statement:

I figured I would write my thoughts on it all. After having a night to sleep on it and a day to reflect, I think there has been ample time to gather my thoughts while the encounter is still fresh. 

First off, I will state that the reason I’m making light of the situation is because I don’t think what I did was wrong. To be blunt, I was proud of my progress in the gym, thought I looked hot, and wanted to share it. I’m of the mindset that whoever you are, if you are proud of your body and want to show it off, so be it! You do you. There is an odd taboo with the human form (especially in the USA) and I don’t particularly think its a good thing to teach people that you should “hide yourself” as something incredibly sacred. Blah blah blah, that’s a medieval notion. 

Secondly, the real problem here was not me sending my pictures to someone, but rather, sending them to the WRONG someone. The real travesty is a misplaced trust, and while I am certainly to blame for it, it is a shame that my private life was somehow forcibly dragged into the public’s perception of me. What is wrong is that, generally I try to stay cool and collected with my prose and a role model for kids (maybe not anymore shamefully) and this seemingly inconsequential act will likely affect the youth’s impression of me. Not only that, but I worry somewhat for my artistic integrity, and my academic integrity. Not exactly ideal, but I’m to blame and I’ll look this incident in the eye like a man. I did it, but I’d be damned if I didn’t own that shit like Beyonce would want me to.

Finally though, and I think that this is the most important part, because of this, I gained 200,000 followers on twitter, 40,000 followers on tumblr, and 20,000 followers on instagram…. It seems to me that the majority of people are actually praising this act as some sort of device to receive fame (or infamy). Why? I have no clue, I don’t entirely condone it though. I’ll make it clear my intent was for this not to happen, and how it has affected me so positively is an enigma to me that rings true of the human condition. Maybe people just like to see others mess up? I’m German by blood, so I feel you on that.

He also attached a picture of a white T-shirt with one of his nudes on it, and joked that he would be having that shirt made because "I figured that if every interaction I have from here on is a chance of them having seen me like this, I may as well just show them anyways heh heh." Also, apparently people are sending him their nudes now, because his leaked? Yeah, stop doing that too—"P.S. please stop sending me nudes you will not get any in return despite popular evidence."

So, that's that. You can check out the statement on Sprouse's Tumblr here. (Note, the NSFW image of his nude is on the page.) 

[via bausprouse/Tumblr]

Latest in Pop Culture