The First Reactions to 'The Idol' Are in and People Have...Um...Thoughts
Sam Levinson's uhm...buzzy (sure, let's go with "buzzy") new show The Idol premiered at Cannes, and viewers immediately took to Twitter to react. Before we get into it, according to Variety, the show's first two episodes featured "revenge porn photos of bodily fluids on Depp’s face, masturbation with ice cubes, nightclub-owning scam artists and vile Hollywood sycophants." So yeah, The Idol—which, reminder, Rolling Stone called "torture porn"—sounds like a lot.
Soooo, what did Cannes viewers thing? Opinions ranged from "a Pornhub-homepage odyssey" to "BLACK SWAN, SUCCESSION, and SECRETARY in a blender," to "the TV version of clickbait."
“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
The Idol convo in the theater. “I hated it.” “Garbage.” “I’m disgusted..” “She’s way better than I thought she’d be.”
— Tatiana Siegel (@TatianaSiegel27) May 22, 2023
Lots of strong reactions to #TheIdol out of #Cannes2023 — ranging from “I hated it” to “the TV version of clickbait” to “I don’t need to see any more of Lily-Rose Depp naked.”
— Ramin Setoodeh (@RaminSetoodeh) May 22, 2023
Yeah, THE IDOL has the EUPHORIA vibes you might expect but it’s really more like somebody put BLACK SWAN, SUCCESSION, and SECRETARY in a blender and let it rip. Prepare yourself for quite the discourse… #cannes
— erickohn (@erickohn) May 22, 2023
Welp. A lot to think about here!
The Idol premiers June 4, and reminder that HBO released a statement following Rolling Stones' report that it had gone "wildly, disgustingly off the rails," saying that the “initial approach on the show and production of the early episodes, unfortunately, did not meet HBO standards so we chose to make a change. Throughout the process, the creative team has been committed to creating a safe, collaborative, and mutually respectful working environment, and last year, the team made creative changes they felt were in the best interest of both the production and the cast and crew."
Lily-Rose Depp also issued a statement saying, “Sam is, for so many reasons, the best director I have ever worked with. Never have I felt more supported or respected in a creative space, my input and opinions more valued. Working with Sam is a true collaboration in every way — it matters to him, more than anything, not only what his actors think about the work, but how we feel performing it. He hires people whose work he esteems and has always created an environment in which I felt seen, heard, and appreciated.”
Meanwhile, The Weeknd posted this:
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