No One Is More Upset About ‘The Idol’ Getting Canceled Than Grimes
Like her sworn enemy Azealia Banks, pop star/futurist Grimes is known for her controversial lifestyle and politics—which have included procreating with blowhard tech billionaire Elon Musk and announcing that she was no longer an “avowed communist”—but she’s consistently compelling when she weighs in on pop culture. Case in point: She brings up some sound arguments about the cancellation of The Idol.
On Wednesday, HBO announced that “after much thought and consideration,” it was axing the controversial series conceived by Abel Tesfaye, aka The Weeknd, and Euphoria boss Sam Levinson. The show, which premiered in June to mostly harsh reviews, saw the “Blinding Lights” singer playing Tedros, a perverted nightclub owner who leads Lily Rose-Depp’s impressionable pop star character down a dark, twisted path.
During The Idol’s short-lived run, it managed to simultaneously earn disappointing ratings while pissing off nearly everyone who tuned in: Many viewers hated the explicit dialogue and recoiled at Tesfaye’s performance, so much so that he gave contemporaneous interviews defending the show. HBO even had to scramble to shut down rumors of the show’s cancellation midway through the season.