Dan Levy Admits He Hasn’t “Caught Up” on ‘The Idol’ After Scene Cut From Controversial HBO Series

Carly Thomas
·2 min read
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Dan Levy admitted that he was too “busy” to finish watching The Idol last summer, especially after one of his scenes was cut from the HBO show.

The actor played Benjamin, Jocelyn’s (Lily-Rose Depp) publicist, in the controversial five-episode series, but his character appeared only in the first episode, and another scene never made it in the final cut of the show.

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Now, more than six months after The Idol premiered in June, Levy made an appearance on Tuesday’s episode of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen and was asked by Cohen on behalf of a fan: “Why were your scenes cut from The Idol, and what did you really think of the show?”

Though the Schitt’s Creek star seemed to be a bit taken aback by the question, he said in response after giving it some thought, “I think it was only one scene that was cut. And I didn’t … well, I was busy … making my movie at the time when it came out. So I only really saw, like, my episode and I haven’t caught up.”

The Idol not only had a creative overhaul midway through production, with original director Amy Seimetz departing and Euphoria creator Sam Levinson coming in, but the show was also met with reports of on-set turmoil just months before its premiere.

In March 2023, Rolling Stone published a story with reports that the series, co-created by Levinson and The Weeknd (whose real name is Abel Tesfaye), was plagued by last-minute revisions and a chaotic working environment. Some people who worked on the show also said they felt like there was a shift in tone once Levinson took over and that some disturbing scenes were written (but not filmed) portraying sexual violence.

Following the allegations, several castmembers, including Depp and Tesfaye, and HBO, denied that there were problems during filming.

Tesfaye even responded to the claims by sharing what appeared to be a clip from the show that mocks Rolling Stone’s influence on the music industry. In the footage, Depp, Levy and Tesfaye are sitting together when his character Tedros says, “Yeah, nobody cares about Rolling Stone.” In the post’s caption, the singer wrote, “@RollingStone Did we upset you?” (Rolling Stone editor-in-chief Noah Shachtman replied via a tweet,” “Not at all!”)

But the scene that Tesfaye shared, featuring Levy, never appeared in the final version of the series once it premiered.

The Idol was canceled in August following its first season.

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