After Abel ‘The Weeknd’ Tesfaye’s ‘The Idol‘ premiered its first two episodes on May 22 at the 76th Cannes Film Festival, it was met with criticism. In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, the show’s star Lily-Rose Depp reacted to the views claiming the series has a toxic environment.
Looking back on her time on ‘The Idol’s set, Lily-Rose Depp revealed that they were having a good time together as good friends even though the show tackles darker themes:
“For something that does, of course, explore darker themes and has some pretty heavy emotional moments to it and everything, the vibe on set was quite lighthearted. We’re all really good friends, and we all are similar people and really understand each other. We were having a lot of laughs, listening to a lot of music, and dancing around.”
She then continued, arguing this atmosphere made the emotional and heavier scenes easier for them:
“That kind of energy is what made the heavier moments easier and possible because whenever you knew that there was a bigger, emotional scene coming up, you felt like you were surrounded by people that you feel comfortable with. These people have your back, and you feel that in the show.”
According to Entertainment Tonight, critics dubbed ‘The Idol’ as ‘sleazy,’ ‘revenge porn,’ and ’50 Shades of Tesfaye.’ In March, Rolling Stone also issued an article, claiming the production sources told them the show was an ‘absolute sh*tshow‘ because it was plagued with delays and reshoots.
Another production member commented on Sam Levinson’s version of ‘The Idol’ after Amy Seimetz’s departure:
“It was like any rape fantasy that any toxic man would have in the show — and then the woman comes back for more because it makes her music better.”
Abel Tesfaye responded to the Rolling Stone article with a tweet that included a clip from the series. In the short clip, Abel’s character Tedros calls the publication ‘irrelevant‘ and claims many of their Instagram followers were bots.
‘The Idol’ is scheduled to air on HBO on June 4. You can check out Tesfaye’s tweet and watch the clip below.
.@RollingStone did we upset you? pic.twitter.com/Uyx06lyRgx
— Abel Tesfaye (@theweeknd) March 1, 2023