Lily Rose-Depp Denies Report Of 'The Idol' Set Being Toxic, Sam Levinson Says Allegations 'Felt Completely Foreign'

The Weeknd and Lily-Rose Depp pose together at the photocall for The Idol at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday (May 23) in Cannes, France.

In March, Rolling Stone published a bombshell article comparing the show to “torture p-rn”, divergent visions for the show causing turmoil, as well significant budgetary and timing issues.

“It’s always a little sad and disheartening to say mean false things said about someone you care about. It wasn’t reflective at all of my experience,” Lily Rose-Depp said at the press conference.

Keep reading to find out more…The Idol series director and co-creator Sam Levinson thought that the publicity the show would receive would only grow its audience. “When my wife read me the article, I looked at her and I said, ‘I think we’re about to have the biggest show of the summer,’” he said, per Variety.

“We know we’re making a show that is provocative. It’s not lost on us,” Sam continued. He said the allegations made against the show, “felt completely foreign to me.”

“My only slight is they intentionally omitted anything that didn’t fit their narrative. We’ve seen a lot of that recently,” Sam said.

The Weekend said he wanted to “create something special, something fun, to make people laugh, piss some people off.”

Also in attendance at the photocall were Jennie Ruby Jane, Troye Sivan, Moses Sumney, Rachel Sennott, Hari Nef, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Hank Azaria, and Sophie Mudd.

The Idol will debut on HBO on Sunday, June 4.

The Weeknd had the support of girlfriend Simi Khadra at his premiere at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.