Warning: This article comprises dialogue of rape.
A month after its launch, new studies about HBO’s The Idol have sparked one other wave of backlash.
Directed and produced by Sam Levinson, Reza Fahim, and The Weeknd, The Idol — which additionally stars The Weeknd and Lily-Rose Depp — facilities a controversial relationship between their characters. The Weekend, actual identify Abel Tesfaye, portrays sleazy membership proprietor Tedros within the present, whereas Lily-Rose performs a rising pop star named Jocelyn.
But issues behind-the-scenes have arguably been far worse, with a number of forged and crew members’ having voiced their issues about The Idol’s “extreme” nature earlier than the present even started streaming.
Earlier this 12 months, in March, crew members alleged in a report printed by Rolling Stone that Sam’s scripts had added extraordinarily disturbing sexual and bodily violent scenes between Jocelyn and Tedros’s characters. One supply described The Idol as “sexual torture porn,” whereas another person alleged that it was “like any rape fantasy that any toxic man would have in the show.”
The insiders additionally claimed that The Idol had initially featured scenes so disturbing and graphic that they needed to be reduce, together with one which allegedly featured Jocelyn asking Tedros to beat her, which gave Tedros an erection.
And whereas each The Weeknd and Lily-Rose have defended The Idol quite a few instances, social media customers have been left disturbed as soon as once more after a brand new report was printed about one other alleged scene that was apparently reduce from the collection.
According to Page Six, who heard from an insider final week, The Idol was initially set to function what they described as a “non-consensual semen scene” in its fourth episode, which reportedly ended up being reduce from the ultimate edit.
The supply alleged that The Weeknd and Lily-Rose had been filming a intercourse scene when director Sam all of a sudden stepped in with impromptu directions for his or her characters.
Sam, who has additionally been criticized over the sexualized nature of his HBO present Euphoria, allegedly “explicitly directed” that Tedros “strangle” Jocelyn and ejaculate “inside her without her consent.”
What’s extra, the supply claimed that Sam was “by the monitor, laughing and feeding lines to The Weeknd’s character like, ‘I own you,’” as he gave the directions, and that most people on set discovered the scene “extremely disturbing.”
A second insider additional claimed that the scene was filmed, and was “originally set up to lead to a pregnancy scare for Jocelyn.”
However, this supply alleged that the scene was reduce due to “because of storyline adjustments,” including that it’s “a normal part of the creative process on a television series.”
Reacting to the brand new studies, social media customers have expressed their dismay on the alleged reduce scene.
“My God, this man is sick. Sam Levinson is a sickman,” one tweet read.
“I love Euphoria but honestly this man needs to not be allowed to work in Hollywood,” mentioned another, whereas another person added that the alleged particulars had been “wild AF.”
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