“The White Lotus” creator Mike White responded Tuesday to series composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer public condemnation of the Emmy-winning HBO drama before revealing he will not return for Season 4.
In an April interview with The New York Times, de Veer revealed that he will no longer work on the series after experiencing creative disagreements with White over the musical direction of the show’s third season. During a Tuesday appearance on “The Howard Stern Show” following the Sunday’s Season 3 finale, White offered his perspective on his and de Veer’s contentious creative relationship.
“I honestly don’t know what happened, except now I’m reading his interviews because he decides to do some PR campaign about him leaving the show,” White told Stern. “I don’t think he respected me. He wants people to know that he’s edgy and dark and I’m, I don’t know, like I watch reality TV. We never really even fought. He says we feuded. I don’t think I ever had a fight with him — except for maybe some emails. It was basically me giving him notes.
“I don’t think he liked to go through the process of getting notes from me, or wanting revisions, because he didn’t respect me,” White continued. “I knew he wasn’t a team player and that he wanted to do it his way. I was thrown that he would go to The New York Times to s—t on me and the show three days before the finale. It was kind of a bitch move.”
According to White, his and de Veer’s issues began before “The White Lotus” Season 3, and the writer-director suggested that the composer’s success after the HBO show’s first season just contributed to the disconnect between them.
“By the time the third season came around, he’d won Emmys and he had his song go viral. He didn’t want to go through the process with me, he didn’t want to go to sessions,” White said. “He would always look at me with this contemptuous smirk on his face like he thought I was a chimp or something … He’s definitely making a big deal out of a creative difference.”
“He is very talented,” White noted, before concluding, “[But] I’ve never kissed somebody’s ass so hard to just get him to — to lead that horse to water. Have fun with whatever you’re doing next.”
Seasons 1-3 of “The White Lotus” are streaming now on Max.
