Lily-Rose Depp and The Weeknd's new TV drama, The Idol, has been slammed by viewers as a "mess of a show."
Abel "The Weeknd" Tesfaye co-created the new HBO series alongside Euphoria boss Sam Levinson and he stars opposite Depp who plays aspiring pop star Jocelyn.
The singer falls under the spell of The Weeknd's cult leader, Tedros, in the show that also stars Troye Sivan, Dan Levy, Eli Roth and Hank Azaria.
The Idol made its debut at the 2023 Cannes International Film Festival and premiered on HBO on Sunday June 4.
Ahead of its first episode, the series had been plagued with reports of alleged on-set chaos during production with a Rolling Stone magazine expose claiming the show had been turned into "sexual torture porn."
The magazine's report included the statements of multiple inside sources that the show was overhauled with gratuitous levels of nudity and sexual violence when Levinson stepped in as showrunner in April.
After its premiere, TV fans took to Twitter to share their thoughts with many condemning the explicit sex scenes and slamming the quality of the show.
"I just watch the first episode of #THEIDOL and my god, i was wrong, i thought is was going to be bad, but nothing could have prepared me for hor really bad it was going to be. Like at least make me feel entertained, but nope, just boring and thinking 10 ways to make it better," wrote one person on Twitter.
Another added: "For everything bad about #TheIdol (which is most things), the dialogue stands out as truly atrocious. What a mess of a show."
A third commented: "hbo's run from the white lotus to the last of us to final seasons for both barry/succession and going to "the idol" right afterwards is possibly the worst downgrade i've ever seen."
And a fourth tweeted: "literally wtf was that.."
But The Idol did attract some fans with one saying they were "hooked" after just one episode.
"first episode of the idol was a 9/10 i NEED another episode im officially hooked," tweeted one fan.
A second person added: "Lily-Rose Depp delivers the performance of a lifetime, sorry Zendaya this is her Emmy now. It's not just another HBO show, it's the BEST TV show ever. Great cinematography too. A fitting end, while also setting up what's next."
According to Rolling Stone's report, show insiders said the show was drastically changed and became "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."
Another told the magazine: "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."
The Weeknd responded to the Rolling Stone article by sharing a clip from the show to Twitter in which Tedros labels the publication "irrelevant." He captioned the tweet by tagging the magazine directly and wrote "did we upset you?"
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