'White Lotus' drama: Creator Mike White claps back at show composer's criticism
'The White Lotus' creator Mike White is clapping back — and not holding back — at his HBO hit's Emmy-winning composer, Cristóbal Tapia de Veer, who announced he was exiting the series last week.
In a candid SiriusXM interview with Howard Stern Tuesday, two days after "The White Lotus" April 6 Season 3 finale, White expressed confusion and hurt over Tapia de Veer's comments to The New York Times, detailing what he called creative clashes with White and announcing he had quit the series.
'I honestly don't know what happened,' White told Stern, calling Tapia da Veer's sole April 2 interview a 'PR campaign" that landed "three days before the finale. It was kind of of a bitch move.'
"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," said White, a former "Survivor" and "Amazing Race" contestant. "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. I knew he wasn't a team player and that he wanted to do it his way."
Tapia de Veer, who won three Emmys for the show's earworm theme, told the Times that he had to "force" his music into "The White Lotus," claiming he had few allies on the production and labeling the process "a good struggle."
"I feel like this was, you know, a rock 'n' roll band story," Tapia de Veer said. "I was like, OK, this is like a rock band I've been in before where the guitar player doesn't understand the singer at all."
USA TODAY has contacted Tapia de Veer's representative for further comment.
White told Stern that, after breaking viewership records in Season 3, he was renegotiating his HBO deal for Season 4.
When Stern pressed for specifics for the deal, White responded in a way that reflected "The White Lotus" main theme. "At a certain point with money, (one wonders) is this going to make me worse? Is having more money just going to make me more dysfunctional?' said White.
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