The Weeknd slams article about alleged toxicity on his upcoming show ‘The Idol’

The Weeknd clapped back at claims that his new HBO series, The Idol, is having issues in production.

On Wednesday, March 1st, 2023, Rolling Stone released a lengthy article claiming that the show – created alongside Euphoria’s Sam Levinson – has “gone wildly, disgustingly off the rails” with regard to chaotic scheduling, going over budget and last-minute script changes and overhauls on graphically violent and sexual scenes, per Entertainment Tonight.

The Weeknd – whose real name is Abel Tesfaye – slammed the report by the publication by sharing a clip from the series, in his character – a cult leader and self-help guru named Tedros – slams the magazine for being “irrelevant.”

The video clip, Tedros is sitting cosily next to popstar Jocelyn, played by Lily-Rose Depp, as her publicist, played by Dan Levy, suggests doing a photoshoot for the magazine.

At the suggestion, Tedros says, “Rolling Stone? Aren’t they a little irrelevant?” He then pulls out his phones and compares the follower count on the outlet’s Instagram and Jocelyn’s.

“Rolling Stone has 6 million followers on Instagram, half of them probably bots. And Jocelyn has 78 million followers, all real I’d assume. So, she does a photo shoot, she tags them, they get her followers. More money for Rolling Stone, nothing for Jocelyn.”

“There’s a lot for Jocelyn,” Levy's character counters.

“Not in Rolling Stone,” Tedros quibs.

The claims in the magazine comes after the show’s original director, Amy Seimetz, left the series and several episodes were allegedly scrapped entirely for having too much “female perspective” according to Abel, via ET.

Several teaser trailers have been released for the series, which is slated to premiere sometime in 2023, but no specific date has yet been announced.