why is は used rather than を here?

Question

i had listened to true love restraint and there's this line here

今誰を見てるの？ 僕以外は見ないで

why is it は and not を「僕以外を見ないで」 even when を was explicitly used in the first line with the same idea? what's the difference? and if は is here to convey something different than を how does it change the meaning from just using を instead anyway?

Answer 1

は is often used in place of をto add emphasis to that specific object, in this case 僕 (no other than JUST me).