‘The White Lotus’ Director Cut A Scene Featuring A Non-Binary Child From Season 3 After Trump Was Elected

Didn’t want to deal with the backlash.

The HBO series The White Lotus is one of the most popular shows on television right now, and for good reason. In its third season, the series created by Mike White follows various groups of quirky guests of the fictional White Lotus chain of resorts.

This season of the satirical comedy/drama series is set in Thailand, and one of the main plots involves a group of three longtime friends who are reuniting for a girls trip to the resort. The group includes Jaclyn Lemon, a popular actress, and her childhood friends Kate Bohr and Laurie Duffy.

But we quickly learn that the trio may not be as close as they appear to be after the other two women are heard gossiping about Laurie, a corporate lawyer who was recently divorced, and her troubled daughter. Then in a later episode, Kate implies that her husband voted for Donald Trump, which results in her becoming the odd woman out as the other two gossip about her political views.

There’s obviously more to the story, but to avoid any major spoilers, that’s all you really need to know for now.

Anyway, as it turns out, apparently there was originally a subplot about Laurie’s daughter that was ultimately cut from the series – because of the 2024 presidential election.

Actress Carrie Coon, who plays Laurie, revealed during an interview with Harper’s Bazaar that her daughter back home was originally supposed to be non-binary, but White ultimately scrapped the scene both for time and because of the heightened tension surrounding the issue following the re-election of President Donald Trump:

“There was a bit more context to her home life. You originally found out that her daughter was actually non-binary, maybe trans, and going by they/them. You see Laurie struggling to explain it to her friends, struggling to use they/them pronouns, struggling with the language, which was all interesting. It was only a short scene, but for me, it did make the question of whether Kate voted for Trump so much more provocative and personally offensive to Laurie, considering who her child is in the world.

But the season was written before the election. And considering the way the Trump administration has weaponized the cultural war against transgender people even more since then, when the time came to cut the episode down, Mike felt that the scene was so small and the topic so big that it wasn’t the right way to engage in that conversation.”

Of course it wouldn’t have been the only controversial scene in this season of the hit show.

Another storyline this season features Timothy Ratliff, a wealthy financial guy and graduate of Duke University, who’s on vacation with his family. Early on in the season, he receives a call from a journalist asking about a money laundering scandal at his company involving a former business partner.

Facing potential federal charges for his own involvement, Timothy eventually steals a gun from the resort’s security guard and at one point is seen holding it to his head, prepared to commit suicide – while wearing a Duke shirt.

Well obviously with Duke currently making a run in the NCAA tournament, the image quickly began circulating online as a potential meme should the Blue Devils make an early exit.

White Lotus has gifted us an amazing Duke meme pic.twitter.com/qf54MjZ8eA

— Don England (@DonCEngland) March 24, 2025

And there’s also another (less graphic) image of Ratliff staring out of a window in his Duke shirt that also presents a pretty good opportunity for some memes poking fun at the Blue Devils:

hey babe, new Duke meme just dropped pic.twitter.com/msHSxvPZnk

— Arrogant Nation (@FightOnRusty) March 24, 2025

But unsurprisingly, Duke isn’t too happy about the images that are currently going around social media featuring their name and logo.

The university issued a statement yesterday, clarifying that they didn’t approve the use of their merch in White Lotus and criticizing the show’s scene as going “way too far.”

“The White Lotus not only uses our brand without permission, but in our view uses it on imagery that is troubling, does not reflect our values or who we are, and simply goes too far.

Suicide is the second-leading cause of death on college campuses. As imagery from the show is being shared widely across social media, we are using our brand to promote mental health awareness and remind people that help is available.

Duke appreciates artistic expression and creative storytelling, but characters prominently wearing apparel bearing Duke’s federally registered trademarks creates confusion and mistakenly suggests an endorsement or affiliation where none exists.”

Probably no surprise that they’re not happy about their shirt being used in that scene…but unlike the other scene, that one made the final cut.