Tom Hiddleston on US censor of The Night Manager nude scene: 'My butt is not dangerous'

'There are many, many more dangerous things that people are happy to broadcast. I don’t know what that says about the world we live in, but it probably says something'

Mona Kuhn for W magazine (W)

If you want to cause an immediate uproar on the internet, just remove an entire country's access to Tom Hiddleston's butt. That will do the trick.

Mass outrage was sparked when US broadcaster AMC's airing of The Night Manager censored part of the series' notorious sex scene, removing glimpses of the actor's bottom.

"I was surprised to hear that they cut my butt out!" the actor told W. "I’m here to tell you that my butt is not dangerous. And there are many, many more dangerous things that people are happy to broadcast. I don’t know what that says about the world we live in, but it probably says something."

Though AMC certainly isn't as lax as HBO when it comes to censoring content, it's still the network that calls itself home to the violent likes of The Walking Dead, Preacher, and Breaking Bad. So, what about Tom Hiddleston's booty in particular so offended their constitutions, we'll never know; yet, it looks like US audiences have simply had to do without.

Hiddleston also, once more, addressed those pesky Bond rumours sparked by his slick, suave role on The Night Manager; joking, "I’d make a terrible spy, because everybody knows who I am. But Susanne Bier, the director of The Night Manager, said that she thinks I am very enigmatic and good at keeping secrets." So is that a maybe? Or just some clever obscuration of the matter at hand?

Though the world is scrambling to crown the new 007, favours flitting from actor to actor, all while it still remains officially undecided whether Daniel Craig will even be leaving the franchise in the first place; Hiddleston himself is keen to distance himself from the role.

He had already told a convention panel, "I don't think that announcement is coming, but I am very gratified to hear the enthusiasm. Your guess is as good as mine, to be honest."

That certainly makes it sound as if those reports of the actor meeting with Bond producers are unfounded; then again, Hiddleston is best known for playing the trickster god Loki. So, maybe he's just deep in character for Thor: Ragnarok and is getting a lot of pleasure from pulling everyone's leg on this.