The Weeknd Calls Rolling Stone “Irrelevant” After Critical Report of His Upcoming Show ‘The Idol’

The Weeknd has responded to a report from Rolling Stone claiming that his upcoming HBO collection The Idol has “gone wildly, disgustingly off the rails.”

Posting a clip from the collection to Instagram, the Canadian famous person tagged Rolling Stone and wrote, “Did we upset you?” Within the scene, a personality performed by Dan Levy pitches Abel and Lily-Rose Depp’s pop star character Jocelyn to do a photograph shoot for the duvet of Rolling Stone. The Abel, who performs a modern-day cult chief named Tedros, responds saying, “Rolling Stone? Aren’t they just a little irrelevant? … Rolling Stone has 6 million followers on Instagram, half of them most likely bots. And Jocelyn has 78 million followers, all actual I’d assume. So she does a photograph shoot, she tags them, they get her followers. More cash for Rolling Stone, nothing for Jocelyn.”

In accordance with Rolling Stone’s sources, the present was meant to be a satire of the trade and observe Depp’s character as she beneficial properties her independence in a world that hinges on abuse. Nevertheless it shortly became over sexualized narratives and Amy Seimetz, who was on board because the director, abruptly exited the venture final 12 months, when 80 p.c of the six-episode season was reportedly full.

.@RollingStone did we upset you? pic.twitter.com/Uyx06lyRgx

— The Weeknd (@theweeknd) March 1, 2023

Co-creator (and Euphoria runner) Sam Levinson abruptly took inventive management and derailed the collection’ message and hyper-sexualizing its characters, re-writing tales and re-shooting a number of scenes. “What I signed up for was a darkish satire of fame and the celebrity mannequin within the twenty first century,” one manufacturing member mentioned. “The issues that we topic our expertise and stars to, the forces that put individuals within the highlight and the way that may be manipulated within the post-Trump world.” As an alternative “It went from satire to the factor it was satirizing.”

One crew member described the brand new path as “sexual torture porn.”

Sources advised Rolling Stone that in a single “disturbing” scrapped scene from The Idol, “Tesfaye bashes in Depp’s face, and her character smiles and asks to be overwhelmed extra, giving Tesfaye an erection.” Per Rolling Stone, “Tesfaye’s character would refuse to ‘rape’ her — which despatched Depp’s character right into a spiral, begging him to ‘rape’ her as a result of she believed he was the important thing to her success.”

Each HBO and Depp have additionally addressed the Rolling Stone report. “The creators and producers of The Idol have been working laborious to create one among HBO’s most fun and provocative authentic applications,” HBO mentioned. “The preliminary method on the present and manufacturing of the early episodes, sadly, didn’t meet HBO requirements so we selected to make a change. All through the method, the inventive staff has been dedicated to making a protected, collaborative, and mutually respectful working atmosphere, and final 12 months, the staff made inventive modifications they felt had been in the perfect curiosity of each the manufacturing and the forged and crew. We stay up for sharing The Idol with audiences quickly.”