Celebrity The Weeknd The Weeknd Has Insisted That “The Idol’s” Sex Scenes Are Supposed To Be Embarrassing And That He’s Nothing Like His “Loser" Character After Being Mercilessly Dragged By Viewers The last 10 minutes of Sunday’s episode of The Idol was branded “the worst sex scene in history,” with The Weeknd’s character accused of having “all the energy and sexual enticement of Gollum scurrying for a fish.” By by Stephanie Soteriou BuzzFeed Staff Posted 1 hour ago
Twitter Facebook Link When the first
trailer for the new
HBO series The Idol dropped in July, it immediately caused a stir online. Max The series was created by The Weeknd, his producing partner Reza Fahim, and Euphoria’s Sam Levinson. The Weeknd, real name Abel Tesfaye, also stars as corrupt cult leader Tedros, alongside Lily-Rose Depp who plays pop star Jocelyn. Marc Piasecki / FilmMagic In the trailer, the show was advertised as being “from the Gutters of Hollywood” and by “the sick & twisted minds” of Sam and The Weeknd — promising salaciousness and scandals to its viewers. Max But by March, The Idol had drawn heavy criticism after Rolling Stone published an exposé based on interviews with 13 members of the cast and crew. It detailed a tumultuous creative process and problematic rewrites that led to the project being described as “ sexual torture porn. ” Max One insider claimed that Sam’s vision for The Idol “was like any rape fantasy that any toxic man would have in the show." Rodin Eckenroth / FilmMagic Sam responded to the growing backlash at the series' premiere in Cannes, where he said: “Sometimes things that might be revolutionary are taken too far.” Julie Sebadelha / AFP via Getty Images The reviews that came out of Cannes also fueled the controversy around the show, with a
New York Times reporter describing it as: “50 SHADES OF TESFAYE: A Pornhub-homepage odyssey starring Lily-Rose Depp’s areolas and The Weeknd’s greasy rat tail.” “The Idol,” or 50 SHADES OF TESFAYE: A Pornhub-homepage odyssey starring Lily Rose Depp’s areolas and The Weeknd’s greasy rat tail. Love that this will help launch the HBO Max rebrand, should slot nicely next to House Hunters! — Kyle Buchanan (@kylebuchanan) May 22, 2023 Twitter: @kylebuchanan Variety echoed: “Levinson’s worldview seems corrupt. It shouldn’t take degradation and suffering to make Jocelyn stronger. Euphoria audiences won’t be too surprised by the shameful way he treats Depp’s character, as both she and the show appear trapped under The Weeknd’s thumb.” Max So when The Idol finally premiered on Max earlier this month, those who did tune in were caught off guard by how decidedly lackluster the whole thing was. Max Things got even worse when episode 2 aired on Sunday. The last 10 minutes of this installment showed The Weeknd’s Tedros talk dirty to Lily-Rose’s Jocelyn as she masturbated in front of him before they had sex. Max The uncomfortable scene was mercilessly dragged online due to The Weeknd’s cringe-inducing performance, with one viral tweet reading: “the funniest part about this is how sexy he thinks he looks when he doesn’t look attractive like at all.” the funniest part about this is how sexy he thinks he looks when he doesn’t look attractive like at all 😭 https://t.co/Hvn0DyXKlv — alex 💭 ⁷ (@nothnghppens) June 12, 2023 Max / Via Twitter: @nothnghppens Someone else added: “new episode of THE IDOL was actually really good until that 10 minute sequence at the end where the weeknd talks dirty to lily rose depp like he's in the most unbearably cringey porn and not you know.... a fucking TV SHOW. like ohmygod it is awful.” new episode of THE IDOL was actually really good until that 10 minute sequence at the end where the weeknd talks dirty to lily rose depp like he's in the most unbearably cringey porn and not you know.... a fucking TV SHOW. like ohmygod it is awful. — owen (@twinsnakestwins) June 12, 2023 Twitter: @twinsnakestwins Another wrote: “the weeknd is so fuckin lame and disappointing just another porn addicted loser male u shouldve just kept singing and not ruined ur image.” the weeknd is so fuckin lame and disappointing just another porn addicted loser male u shouldve just kept singing and not ruined ur image — kilala (@kilala713) June 12, 2023 Twitter: @kilala713 In fact, the whole thing was so awkward that
British GQ published a damning article with the headline “ The Idol just gave us the worst sex scene in history,” which asks: “Seriously, has anyone involved in this show ever had sex?” Max The article heavily criticizes The Weeknd’s acting choices, saying that Tedros has “all the energy and sexual enticement of Gollum scurrying for a fish.” Describing The Weeknd’s producer role alongside Sam, they call the two men “2 children in a trench coat.” Max “To them, sex is as follows: ‘A woman gets so turned on because a man exists, then something messy and weird happens in the middle (We won’t say what it is, but trust us, we've definitely had sex before) And then finally, when it's all over, she lets them know that was the best time she's ever had,’” the article reads. Julie Sebadelha / AFP via Getty Images But The Weeknd has now responded to the backlash — and insisted that the sex scenes are supposed to be uncomfortable and viewers are meant to “feel embarrassed for the characters.” Max He also distanced himself from Tedros, who he called “pathetic” and “such a loser.” In a new interview with GQ , the star admitted that there’s “nothing really mysterious or hypnotizing” about his character. Mondadori Portfolio / Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images “We did that on purpose with his look, his outfits, his hair — the guy’s a douchebag. You can tell he cares so much about what he looks like, and he thinks he looks good,” The Weeknd explained. “But then you see these weird moments of him alone — he rehearses, he’s calculated. And he needs to do that, or he has nothing, he’s pathetic.” Max “He comes off like such a loser,” he added. “Those moments are the humanity that you find in a psychopath, the chink in his armor.” Max Referencing the sex scene in episode 2 specifically, The Weeknd said: “There’s nothing sexy about it.” Frazer Harrison / WireImage “How ever you’re feeling watching that scene, whether it’s discomfort, or you feel gross, or you feel embarrassed for the characters. It’s all those emotions adding up to: This guy is in way over his head, this situation is one where he is not supposed to be here,” he went on. “With this show, we love to play with the emotions. We’re puppet-mastering your feelings through the show. It’s never a consistent tone, and that’s on purpose.” Max The Weeknd went on to clarify that he is nothing like Tedros in real life, saying: “The only way I could play this role was if it’s something completely different from who I am. And I can distance myself from that character. I wanted to make sure he looked nothing like me, acted nothing like me, just a totally different person.” The
Washington Post / The
Washington Post via Getty Images And while the star did insist that he is “loving” the reaction to The Idol , he also alluded to the negative response that it has been receiving on
Social Media. Max “I understand the internet a lot — and it’s tough to always be online because it’s so much,” he said. “I love to put it out there, and take [the reactions] in but I try not to obsess too much.” More on this "I Will Never See The Weeknd The Same": People Have Thoughts About This Week's Vulgar "Idol" Scene Ryan Schocket · June 12, 2023 Lily-Rose Depp Has Had Her Say After A Shock Report Exposed The “Toxic” Behind-The-Scenes Environment Of Her New “Torture Porn” Show “The Idol” Stephanie Soteriou · March 2, 2023 Lily-Rose Depp And Sam Levinson Attempted To Defend "The Idol" From Criticism Over Its Depiction Of Sex And Nudity Natasha Jokic · May 24, 2023 Lily-Rose Depp Said She’d “Steer Clear” Of The Weeknd When He Was “In His Zone” On The Set Of “The Idol” Days Before The Premiere Episode Sparked A Huge Backlash Leyla Mohammed · June 5, 2023 Topics in this article The Weeknd The Idol HBO Max Stephanie Soteriou BuzzFeed Staff Stephanie Soteriou is a Celebrity Reporter for BuzzFeed and is based in
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