The Canadian singer, who stars on and co-produces the controversial HBO series, also claims that he 'very much expected' the negative responses to the show.
- June 22, 2023
AceShowbiz - The Weeknd once again defends his show "The Idol" despite criticism. The "Starboy" singer, who stars on and co-produces the HBO series, claims in a new interview that the controversial show is "almost educational."
"It's almost educational, that this is what comes with being incredibly famous," The Weeknd, who co-creates the show alongside "Euphoria" director Sam Levinson and Reza Fahim, told Variety in an interview published on Tuesday, June 20. "You're surrounded by people who you're not sure what their true intentions are, even if it seems like they're good. You just never know."
He went on explaining, "But of course, I've been very fortunate to have people around me that I've known almost my entire life, which is important, and is a gift."
The Canadian star, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, added that he wasn't surprised by the backlash. "We're playing with genres with this show, we're doing exactly what we wanted to do. And none of this is a surprise. I'm excited for everyone to watch the rest of the show," he noted.
In a separate interview, The Weeknd recently claimed that he deliberately created his character Tedros extremely despicable. He told Complex that he didn't want viewers to romanticize his character, who is a sleazy club owner corrupting singer Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp).
"I wanted to make sure we felt so disgusted by this character. When you think about real-life scumbags, especially brainwashing cult leader types like him, there are so many directions you can go," he explained to the news outlet. "I went into it, like, 'Why pull the punches? Why take you down a journey and romanticize him? Let's just jump right into it. He's a f**king scumbag.' "
He added in the interview, "So with him, I wanted to make sure that we focused on him finding someone's vulnerability, finding what makes them tick, and then press on that, exploiting what they're missing. I feel like they filled that gap, and that's what Tedros is doing with Jocelyn. But the truth is, behind all that calculation and endless rehearsal, he's just f**king pathetic. He's small, he has no appeal whatsoever."
