Co-stars Lily-Rose Depp and Hank Azaria also refuted claims of on-set chaos involving the HBO series
"The Idol" star Jane Adams had a message for feminists claiming the notorious HBO series "exploited" female actors on set, telling them, "go f--- yourself" in a recent Vanity Fair interview.
"What is amazing to me is no one’s listening—I’ve not seen that before in all my days, such a dogged ‘We refuse to change the narrative,’" she told the outlet's David Canfield.
"I especially want to say to all the feminists, ‘Go f--- yourself.’ All these women that I’m working with are talking about their experience, and you’re not listening. You’re not listening!"
US actress Jane Adams poses during a photocall for the film "The Idol" at the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 23, 2023. (VALERY HACHE/AFP via Getty Images)
The series has been most infamously recognized for its raunchy sex scenes and blatant nudity, many of which feature actress Lily-Rose Depp, who plays a rising pop star who becomes involved with a cult leader and self-help guru portrayed by Abel "The Weeknd" Tesfaye.
Adams maintains that she, along with female costars Depp and Da'Vine Joy Randolph, had positive experiences on the show's set, despite a report published by Rolling Stone in March, labeling director and cowriter Sam Levinson's trajectory of the show after "The Girlfriend Experience" director Amy Seimetz left as "sexual torture porn," alleging the change was a byproduct of on-set dysfunction.
"Adams, it’s safe to say, refutes Rolling Stone’s depiction of the set," Canfield explained.
Abel "The Weeknd" Tesfaye and Lily-Rose Depp hugging in a scene from The Idol (Eddy Chen/HBO)
Depp, who received backlash for graphically nude scenes from the show, called Levinson the "best director" she had ever worked with in a statement provided to Fox News Digital earlier this year.
She said of the set, "Never have I felt more supported or respected in a creative space, my input and opinions more valued," adding, "Working with Sam is a true collaboration in every way - it matters to him, more than anything, not only what his actors think about the work, but how we feel performing it. He hires people whose work he esteems and has always created an environment in which I felt seen, heard, and appreciated."
Hank Azaria, another of Depp's and Adams' co-stars from the series, also defended the set against Rolling Stones' claims from earlier this year.
'THE IDOL,' STARRING JOHNNY DEPP'S DAUGHTER, CRITICIZED FOR GOING ‘OVERBOARD’ ON SEX SCENES
Hank Azaria defended the working conditions on "The Idol." (Roy Rochlin )
"I was mercifully left out of any of the nude shenanigans, personally. But, you know, I can tell you that I know Lily-Rose, who is the center of all that mainly, has said publicly and privately how protected and taken care of and collaborated with and listened to and safe she felt," he told "Today" last month.
"And I know every care was taken, not just for those kinds of scenes, but there are many kinds of sensitive scenes in this show, and I certainly felt safe that way and collaborated with, and Sam [Levinson] goes for it. He points a stark truth lens at whatever scene he’s doing, whether it’s professional, personal, about the business, about a relationship, about sex. So that was what we were doing on that set, and we all were actually quite excited by the collaborative nature of it and how creative it was," he continued.
Fox News' Elizabeth Stanton and Brie Stimson contributed to this report.
Taylor Penley is an associate editor with Fox News.
