Magazine Wars: Vanity Fair Uses the Weeknd to Take Major Swipe at Rival Rolling Stone

Vanity Fair made The Weeknd their cover star for the magazine's June issue, RadarOnline.com has learned, taking a swipe at rival publication Rolling Stone after a report on his upcoming HBO show, The Idol, claiming it had gone "wildly, disgustingly off the rails."

Sources close to production said the show was in turmoil with budgetary issues and behind-the-scenes drama, having alleged at the time that cast members were subject to many rewrites and reshoots for showrunner Sam Levinson from Euphoria.

They claimed the show had evolved into "twisted torture porn."

"It was like any rape fantasy that any toxic man would have in the show, and then the woman comes back for more because it makes her music better," one insider claimed.

Not long after the report went viral, The Weeknd fired back on social media, opting to post a snippet from the show where his character calls the publication "irrelevant."

In the clip, Lily Rose Depp's character also said the mag was "past its prime" while he echoed, "Yeah, nobody cares about Rolling Stone."

"@RollingStone did we upset you?" The Weeknd posted via his official Twitter page on March 1 after the article went live. Rolling Stone editor-in-chief Noah Shachtman replied with two of their cover images of the star, adding, "Not at all!"

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The Weeknd finally addressed the ordeal in his new piece with Vanity Fair, revealing why he went that direction with his public response.

"I thought the article was ridiculous," the Starboy hitmaker said. "I wanted to give a ridiculous response to it."

The Weeknd told VF that he is nothing like his character Tedros and is excited for fans to see the finished product.

"Tedros is that superego that we as men wanna stay away from as much as possible. That's inside of us and we just gotta kill that," he said.

"There were things in that description that have nothing to do with my persona at all. I don't do anything. I'm at home with my dog, my close friends and my family. I get myself out of trouble as much as I can. I try not to stay at the party too long, I'm not that guy… I'm not playing myself. But those characters can live in The Weeknd's universe."

The Idol is set to premiere June 4 on HBO.