Star finally speaks out about Euphoria feud after ‘vulgar’ scene backlash

Euphoria fans were left in shock when composer Labrinth exited the third season after a blistering social media takedown.

Now, he’s opening up about what happened behind-the-scenes.

The series has faced plenty of backlash already since it started airing earlier this month, including for various explicit themes which have left fans horrified.

In one new series regular Faye Valentine (Chloe Cherry) features in a very graphic sex scene with drug dealer Wayne (Toby Wallace) who has a swatsika tattoo and a Nazi flag in the background.

In another, they slammed the ‘disgusting’ and ‘deeply uncomfortable’ sex scene with Sydney Sweeney dressed as a baby.

But the drama has extended far beyond the screen, after soundtrack icon Labrinth publicly hit out against the show.

The singer-songwriter – real name Timothy Lee McKenzie, 37 – has become synonymous with the Sam Levinson-created HBO series thanks to the distinctive synth music that soundtracks the first two seasons, for which he landed four Emmy nominations.

But, with the show finally returning earlier this month after a lengthy four-year wait, fans were devastated to discover that Labrinth was no longer creatively involved.

What has Labrinth said about leaving Euphoria?

Despite his vitriol towards the series and his label, in a new interview talking about the fallout of his sudden departure, he started by hailing Sam.

He called him ‘a genius, in that he knows how to put all the right people together, and I don’t think he gets credit for that’.

His respect also extended to Hans, whom he had never met, and he characterised his social media post as ‘out of character’, adding he’s ‘never done that in my career.’
Explaining to GQ why he decided to post about it, he said he wanted to get ahead of the rumours around his exit.

‘There were things getting sent through the grapevine that made me look like the crazy Black guy that just decided to go AWOL…like I just went f**king crazy on everybody and decided I’m on some publicity stunt.

‘[So my] thought process was like: “I need to make it clear that I’m out.

This has got nothing to do with me getting pushed out or thrown out.

I’m going.”‘
Sharing that he was fine with being ‘disposable’ and acknowledging his involvement was never going to be ‘as much as it was before’, he said that that wasn’t the ‘bother’.

He went onto praise the season one creative process, saying it was ‘created through raw energy and Sam’s vision.

And that I will always say with my chest, I never take that away from Sam.’
However, their partnership seems to have taken a hit by the time the third season rolled around.

‘And I’m like, if we are creating, none of those words should be in our room.’
When the show first came out in 2019, much of the cast were rising stars and have since turned into the biggest Hollywood upcomers including the Oscar-nominated Jacob Elordi, blockbuster star Sydney Sweeney and, of course, Zendaya.

The controversies surrounding Euphoria

This Labrinth drama is far from the only controversy the show, and creator Sam himself, has been embroiled in.

When Barbie Ferreira exited after season two, it came alongside speculation that she had clashed heads with Sam.

More recently, she opened up about how pleased she was at being ‘creatively asked to do things rather than sitting around to be a background character’ in her career.

The latest season has fans wondering if there remains an ongoing feud between co-stars Zendaya and Sydney Sweeney as the pair were rumoured to be refusing to do promo together.

Then, when it comes to the third seasons itself, it has been heavily criticised for certain moments such as a sex scene including Nazi symbolism and another involving a ‘baby kink’.

Noticing that shift in status for many of those involved, Labrinth added: ‘Everybody’s slowly turning into their own Louis Vuitton Bag: you have more popularity, more people are saying your name, so you can now treat everyone like s**t.’
He said the ‘the family and the fluidity started to deteriorate, and the creative camaraderie started to dissipate’ and claimed that he felt like he had ‘offended people for no reason’ and couldn’t resolve it despite his efforts.

What are fans saying about the drama?

‘His music made so many memorable moments, the scenes with his music removed are so bad,’ MatildaRose1995 wrote on Reddit.

‘It feels like such a big part of the show is gone without his music,’ loveitchiinpink added.

‘Labrinth succeeded in ruining all euphoria scenes that were supposed to have his songs like you can FEEL something missing.

hope he’s proud,’ bigceo echoed on X.

‘So Labrinth absence was felt,’ Julia agreed.

Meanwhile, some fans slammed Labrinth fro continuing to offer vague answers over why he left, calling it ’10 paragraphs of nothing definitive’ while others said he ‘couldn’t have been clearer’.

Euphoria season three is released every Monday and is available to watch on Sky, NOW and HBO Max.
Metro has reached out to HBO for comment.
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