Over-Sexualised And 'Cigarette Commercial': Twitter Netizens Unimpressed By 'The Idol'

Sam Levinson's The Idol drama series premiered its first episode on HBO on June 4. The series stars Lily-Rose Depp, Jennie Ruby Jane and Abel Tesfaye (The Weeknd) in pivotal roles and is based on the life of a pop idol trying to revive her stardom. The show is out and here's what the audience thinks about it.

HBO's ambitious project The Idol was trapped in a lot of controversies with the crew and production team changes and the changes to the show's plot. Announced in 2021, the show had to re-shoot major parts of the show after the exit of its former director Amy Seimetz and the directorial takeover by Sam Levinson.

The show is about a pop idol in the middle of a career crisis whose affair with a shady club owner and cult leader will either lift her to stardom or lead her to a darker future.

People had high hopes for Levinson after the success of his show Euphoria. They were also hopeful of the cast including K-pop idol Jennie Kim and Lily-Rose Depp. As the six-episode-long series is out, so are the first few reviews on Twitter.

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The Idol Twitter Reviews

The Idol features the dark side of the entertainment industry shown through its lead Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp) who resorts to drugs to cope with the failure of her recent tour.

The first episode showed excessive use of drugs and sexual content which, the audience felt, went a little overboard. A Twitter user said they were trying to figure out what was going on and described it as a "hypersexual pop star having a crisis and smoking cigs".

Meanwhile, K-pop fans were shocked to see a different side of Blackpink member Jennie Kim as she played Jocelyn's friend and pop dancer Dyanne in the series. Her character was different from the conservative K-pop songs and the audience loved it. Some viewers even claimed that Jennie Ruby Jane, Lily-Rose Depp and Alexa Demie were the only good aspects of the show.

The viewers did not seem to be impressed with Abel Tesfaye's (professionally known as The Weeknd) character Tedros and a viewer suggested that he stick to producing music.

Some netizens were very hopeful about the show due to its stellar cast and Levinson's past success Euphoria but many of them found the first episode disappointing.

However, there were also viewers who thought that the show presented a side of the industry that the public was unaware of. Some viewers felt that while the series was over-sexualised, it reflected the true nature of the entertainment world.