Fans tuned into the dramatic journey of “The Idol” are all aware of the infamous Rolling Stone scene that co-creator and star Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye took to social media after the publication published a damning report about the production of the HBO drama. was posted. Turns out, this scene didn’t even make the final cut.
This scene, released on Twitter by Tesfaye a few months before the show aired in March, shows a conversation between suspicious nightclub owner Tedros (Tesfaye), pop star Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp) and Jocelyn’s publicist (Dan Levy) in which Levi suggests to Jocelyn. Consider Rolling Stone’s offer to feature the artist on its cover. “Rolling Stone, Aren’t They A Little Irrelevant?” Jocelyn turned down the opportunity before Tesfaye said in the clip, “Nobody cares about Rolling Stone”.
The clip was enough backup for Tesfaye to shoot back at the outlet. Rolling Stone reported In March, the set of “The Idol” was plagued by production delays, costly reshoots, last-minute script rewrites and a “sense of chaos” during production.
While HBO denied the allegations in a statement to TheWrap, saying that “the creative team is committed to creating a safe, collaborative and mutually respectful working environment,” Tesfaye chose to refute the report in his own way. Did.
“Did we bother you?” Tesfaye wrote in a Message directed to Rolling Stone on Twitter, hours after the report was published. Tesfaye attached the 54-second clip to his tweet, unveiling the first footage of extended dialogue from “The Idol,” which had only released teasers and trailers until now.
After Sunday’s grand finale of the five-episode season, fans began to realize that the scene never appeared during the course of the show, meaning it was a part of an earlier iteration of the show that had been edited after Levinson and Tesfaye’s arrival. Later it was re-shot. The reins of the project upon the exit of director Amy Seimetz.
With news airing of Seimetz’s departure from “The Idol” in April 2022, it is unclear whether Tesfaye was aware at the time of his post that the scene would not make the final cut.
