'The Idol' NSFW scene invites intimacy coordinator flak

The Idol has instantly become the most controversial show of 2023 as the HBO series' stark nudity and indecent intimate scenes have left many fuming.

During an interview with Variety, intimacy coordinator Marci Liroff slammed The Weekend series, "To be honest, I had a very visceral reaction. I was appalled," Liroff said, who referred to the scene in the series premiere where protagonist Jocelyn (played by Lily-Rose Depp) was posing nude for the album cover shoot while an intimacy coordinator was locked in the bathroom.

The 65-yeaar-old also added that the scene in the controversial series felt like HBO was "making fun of us and the job.'

"They were using us as the butt of the joke," she told the outlet.

But, the casting director lauded the studio as the first major production to hire an intimacy coordinator in the 2018 series The Deuce.

"We look at HBO as our stalwart home, so to speak, because their work with [Rodis] was so good that they made it mandatory that all projects on HBO [featuring sexually intimate scenes] must hire an intimacy coordinator. It set a standard, and many other streamers and networks have followed along," she added.

It is pertinent to mention that Liroff has no connection with HBO's The Idol.