The Weeknd says the controversial sex scene in 'The Idol' episode 2 was meant to be 'gross' amid viewer backlash: 'He comes off like such a loser'

• Warning: There are spoilers ahead for episode two of HBO's "The Idol."
• Speaking to GQ, The Weeknd said the graphic scene featured in episode two was not supposed to be sexy.
• Asked whether Tedros was "tossing those come-ons out off the top of his head," he said: "Exactly."

The Weeknd has clarified that the sex scene featured in episode two of "The Idol" was not supposed to be sexy after it sparked controversy online.

The musician-turned-actor — going by his real name, Abel Tesfaye — cocreated the HBO series with his producing partner Reza Fahim and "Euphoria" creator Sam Levinson, and told GQ in a new interview that the goal with the scene was to make viewers uncomfortable. 

"There's nothing sexy about it," he said of the moment between his character, a mysterious club owner named Tedros, and Lily-Rose Depp's emotionally vulnerable pop star Jocelyn, which featured at the end of the second episode on Sunday.

While directing a half-naked Jocelyn to perform various sex acts, Tedros, fully clothed and sat across the room, delivered several lines that have been torn apart from viewers, including, "You look like a treat," "Imagine my tongue on your pussy — my fat tongue," and "Put your finger down your throat, make that throat wet for me."

In response to the criticism, The Weeknd said: "However you're feeling watching that scene, whether it's discomfort, or you feel gross, or you feel embarrassed for the characters. It's all those emotions adding up to: this guy is in way over his head, this situation is one where he is not supposed to be here."

Asked by the interviewer whether his character was "tossing those come-ons out off the top of his head," The Weeknd responded: "Exactly."

"The sex, it's so gluttonous," he continued. "'Gluttony' is the only word I can think of. He can't believe he's there. He comes off like such a loser."

"Those moments are the humanity that you find in a psychopath, the chink in his armor," he added.

Tesfaye added of his character: "He's despicable, a psychopath — why sugar coat it?"

"There's nothing really mysterious or hypnotizing about him. And we did that on purpose with his look, his outfits, his hair — the guy's a douchebag," he continued.

"You can tell he cares so much about what he looks like, and he thinks he looks good. But then you see these weird moments of him alone — he rehearses, he's calculated. And he needs to do that, or he has nothing. He's pathetic. Which is true of a lot of people who are a fish out of water, put into these scenarios."

The star also pointed to the fact that the 1992 erotic thriller "Basic Instinct" — which Jocelyn watched in episode one — had been a reference point for them, calling the director Paul Verhoeven "the king of '90s satire thriller."

"Yes, there's moments of 'sexy' in his films but there are other moments that are very cheesy and hilarious."