The Weeknd shared more insight into his character Tedros on HBO’s “The Idol”. The “Blinding Lights” hitmaker, who also co-creates the controversial series, revealed in a new interview the reason why he made his character extremely despicable.
Speaking to Complex, The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, claimed that he didn’t want viewers to romanticize his character, who is a sleazy club owner who corrupts singer Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp). He noted that he wanted to make it clear to viewers exactly who Tedros is from the start by adding elements like a rattail, a lack of fashion sense as well as a disturbing voice.
“I wanted to make sure we felt so disgusted by this character. When you think about real-life scumbags, especially brainwashing cult leader types like him, there are so many directions you can go,” he explained to the news outlet. “I went into it, like, ‘Why pull the punches? Why take you down a journey and romanticize him? Let’s just jump right into it. He’s a f**king scumbag.’ ”
He added in the interview, “So with him, I wanted to make sure that we focused on him finding someone’s vulnerability, finding what makes them tick, and then press on that, exploiting what they’re missing. I feel like they filled that gap, and that’s what Tedros is doing with Jocelyn. But the truth is, behind all that calculation and endless rehearsal, he’s just f**king pathetic. He’s small, he has no appeal whatsoever.”
Prior to this, The Weeknd appeared to defend the disturbing sex scene on the show, insisting there is “nothing sexy” about the sex scenes in the show. He told GQ about one of Tedros’ bondage sex scenes with Lily-Rose’s character, “However you’re feeling watching that scene, whether it’s discomfort, or you feel gross, or you feel embarrassed for the characters, it’s all those emotions adding up to, this guy is in way over his head, this situation is one where he is not supposed to be here.”
Of his character, the Canadian star said, “He’s despicable, a psychopath – why sugarcoat it?” The singer-turned-actor further opined, “There’s nothing really mysterious or hypnotizing about him. And we did that on purpose with his look, his outfits, his hair – the guy’s a douchebag.”
Meanwhile, “The Idol” recently landed at the center of another controversy storm after its third episode aired on Sunday, June 18. Fans slammed the show for including a joke about convicted sex predator Jeffrey Epstein’s young victims “s***ting blood.”
Titled “Double Fantasy”, the episode featured Eli Roth’s character Andrew Finkelstein saying Lily’s fictional pop star Jocelyn was giving him irritable bowel syndrome. He added, “I’m f***ing s***ting more blood than a kid at Epstein’s island.” The joke was a reference to Jeffrey’s 75-acre paradise island home of Little Saint James in the Virgin Islands which was dubbed “pedophile island” due to his alleged trafficking to and abuse of girls at the complex.
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