MANILA, Philippines—Former Disney child actor Dylan Sprouse is happy the Yuletide Season is still far more important for netizens than his partly exposed ding a ling.
Sprouse, 21, admitted on microblogging site Twitter he “messed up” after his naked selfies were leaked online Sunday.
One photo shows him in his birthday suit, cupping his manhood, while another shows off his trim post-teen body.
“Glad holiday spirit is still more important than my pe..s,” said Sprouse, referring to trending topics on Twitter.
Sprouse, whose first major film role was in “Big Daddy” where he played as adopted son of Adam Sandler, reasoned that he makes light of the embarrassing leak “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!” he explained.
At the same time, he believes “there is an odd taboo with the human form (especially in the USA) and I don’t particularly think it’s a good thing to teach people that you should ‘hide yourself’ as something incredibly sacred.”
But Sprouse faulted himself for sending the photos to the “WRONG someone.” The leak was purportedly made by the actor’s former girlfriend.
“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,” he said.
Even as he appeared composed, Sprouse actually worries about his career and image as a role model for children.
“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,” he said.
“I was proud of myself and my progress since I was 14 and husky (but) I’m not proud of this incident’s potential lasting effects on my academic and artistic integrity,” said Sprouse.
“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,” he said.
Nonetheless, if there’s something he’s thankful for in the photo scandal, it is the fact that he gained 200,000 additional followers on Twitter, 40,000 on Tumblr, and 20,000 on Instagram.