AceShowbiz -

Jeremy Irons may have caused debates for invoking incest into a discussion about gay marriage. The actor, who plays pope in Showtime's historical drama "The Borgias", said in an interview with HuffPost Live he's concerned that marriage equality would lead to incest.

"It's a very interesting one, and I don't really have a strong feeling," the 64-year-old actor said when asked about the fights to legalize same-sex marriage. "It seems to me that now they're fighting for the name and I worry that it means somehow we debase or we change what marriage is."

"It's an interesting one because, you see, could a father not marry his son?" he went on. When the interviewer noted there were laws against incest, he argued, "It's not incest between men. Incest is there to protect us from inbreeding, but men don't breed so incest wouldn't cover that."

Irons seemed to refer to British law that restricted a man from marrying any female in his genetic circle but didn't expressly forbid a man from marrying his own son. "So if that were so, then if I wanted to pass on my estate without death' duties, I could marry my son and pass on my estate to him," he added.

"I don't have a strong feeling either way," he later reiterated. "I just wish everybody who's living with one other person the best of luck in the world, because it's fantastic."

"Living with another animal, whether it be a husband or a dog, is great," he said. "It's lovely to have someone to love. I don't think sex matters at all. What it's called doesn't matter at all."