Stephen: The Weeknd insists sex scenes in his new show are supposed to be awkward

Photo Credit: HBO / YouTube (cropped)

The Weeknd has taken his first foray into television with HBO’s The Idol and suffice to say, the reviews have not been good. Despite a 5 minute standing ovation at its debut at the Cannes Film Festival, the show, which the singer, born Abel Tesfaye, developed with Euphoria creator Sam Levinson, has received a 27 out of 100 score on Metacritic, 26% on Rotten Tomatoes, and 4.8 out of 10 on IMDb. Some of the common criticisms of the show have been of its overt and gratuitous sexuality, which many have called awkward and not at all sexy, with The Weeknd himself earning quite a bit of ire for his portrayal of night club-owner Tedros. Now, he’s commented on it, saying the sex scenes are meant to be awkward and his character is supposed to be portrayed as greasy loser.

In an interview with GQ, the singer said that from the character’s look, to the way he carries himself, and his relationship with star Lily-Rose Depp’s character Jocelyn, it is all going to plan because people are supposed to dislike Tedros.

“We did that on purpose with his look, his outfits, his hair — the guy’s a douchebag … But then you see these weird moments of him alone — he rehearses, he’s calculated … he has nothing, he’s pathetic.” He went on to explain that the character is nothing like he is in real life.

“The only way I could play this role was if it’s something completely different from who I am. And I can distance myself from that character. I wanted to make sure he looked nothing like me, acted nothing like me, just a totally different person.”  The series’ second episode ends with a 10 minute sex scene that many have panned as more awkward and uncomfortable than sexy. He said “There’s nothing sexy about it.” The masses seem to agree.