The Weeknd slammed a damning exposé published by Rolling Stone in March, which detailed crew members’ concerns about his upcoming HBO Max series The Idol.
The report featured statements from 13 anonymous crew members who alleged the show had been remade into a “rape fantasy” by the musician, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, and Euphoria creator Sam Levinson.
“I thought the article was ridiculous,” Tesfaye told Vanity Fair in an interview for the magazine’s June 2023 issue. “I wanted to give a ridiculous response to it.”
Soon after the report made its rounds on the internet, Tesfaye tweeted a clip from the show that showed his character, Tedros, and Lily-Rose Depp‘s character, Jocelyn, calling Rolling Stone “irrelevant.” This was one of our first glimpses of the show.
The report alleged Levinson led a massive overhaul on the show after director Amy Seimetz stepped away from production. According to the report, Levinson increased the sexual content on the show to the point where it became “sexual torture porn.” One source alleged, “It was a show about a woman who was finding herself sexually, turned into a show about a man who gets to abuse this woman and she loves it.”
Speaking to Vanity Fair, Tesfaye stated he “really loved” working with Seimetz. “I’m sure she’s reading all this being like, ‘Why am I being thrown into this?'” he said.
Deadline also reported at the time that Tesfaye felt the show was leaning into a “female perspective” more than he wanted, a claim that he also denied. He insisted that The Idol is still very much grounded in Depp’s character.
Tesfaye described feeling like the report was an “indictment of his character,” saying he felt the subtext of the exposé was, “These are rapists trying to make a rape fantasy.”
Depp denied the allegations made in the reports, standing by Levinson and Tesfaye’s vision for the show. “I really and truly have never felt more like my opinions and my ideas or my input was more valued,” she told Vanity Fair. “I think it’s interesting that people have so much to say about the show already and they haven’t even seen it.”
Seimetz has not commented on the Rolling Stone report or Vanity Fair‘s profile of Tesfaye.
“It’s really frustrating seeing Amy doing her damn best to turn around some kind of product that she can be somewhat proud of to HBO,” a source told Rolling Stone in the exposé. “And then [for HBO] to turn around and have Sam get essentially a blank check to turn it into ‘Euphoria Season Three with pop stars’ is extremely, extremely frustrating.”
The Idol is set to premiere on HBO Max on Sunday, June 4.