Director Sam Levinson reportedly laughed when he ordered the stars to film a 'disturbing' rape scene, which ended up being cut from the final edit for the controversial HBO series.
- Jul 1, 2023
AceShowbiz - A new report shared insights into the behind-the-scenes of HBO's "The Idol". According to a new report, director Sam Levinson laughed when he ordered stars The Weeknd and Lily-Rose Depp to film a "disturbing" rape scene.
Speaking to Page Six, a source claimed that a "non-consensual semen scene" was shot for last Sunday's episode of the controversial show. The scene, however, ended up being cut from the final edit.
In the deleted scene, The Weeknd, who plays sleazy nightclub owner character named Tedros on the series, was filming a sex scene with Lily-Rose, who portrays pop star Jocelyn, in the bathroom of the Grammy winner's real-life Bel Air mansion. Sam later gave impromptu instructions to the two actors.
According to the insider, the Emmy-winning "Euphoria" creator "explicitly directed" the character of Tedros to "strangle" Jocelyn. Sam additionally wanted The Weeknd's character to ejaculate "inside her without her consent." The source, however, noted that The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, himself "did not literally" ejaculate inside Lily-Rose.
The source added that Sam was allegedly "by the monitor, laughing and feeding lines to Abel's character, like, 'I own you.' " While both stars "went along with Sam's direction," the source said the majority of those on set found the scene "extremely disturbing."
Another source, meanwhile, confirmed the filming of the alleged scene. The second source explained that it was "originally set up to lead to a pregnancy scare for Jocelyn and ultimately was cut because of storyline adjustments, which is a normal part of the creative process on a television series."
The insider claimed that Sam "does not take issues of consent lightly." The show's creative team was also said to be "committed to creating a safe, collaborative and mutually respectful working environment on set, which included having an intimacy coordinator for various scenes."
Mam Smith, who serves as the intimacy coordinator for "The Idol", has yet to comment on the report. Meanwhile, Sam's representative had "no comment" on the matter.
As for HBO, its spokesperson shared, " 'The Idol' is a fictional show with flawed, fictional characters. The director and actors were all doing their jobs. It is a television series and therefore not real."
