“The Idol” is the altar that Sam Levinson is willing to stake his career on.

At the Cannes Film Festival, Levinson, who co-created the HBO series with Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye and Reza Fahim, addressed the viral Rolling Stone report alleging the series was a disaster behind-the-scenes that glorified “torture porn.” The six-part limited series starring Lily-Rose Depp and Tesfaye hosted its Cannes premiere on May 22, where Levinson and the cast slammed the rumors of on-set chaos.

“We know we are making a show that is provocative. It is not lost on us, but it’s an odd one,” Levinson said during the festival press conference. “Because when my wife read me the article, I told her, ‘I think we are about to have the biggest show of the summer.’ In terms of the specifics of what was in it, it just felt completely foreign to me. But I know who I am.