Do we like The Weeknd?
Our score: 8 out of 10. No harmful words or campaigns found, a long record of big hunger-relief giving, held back by the messy fallout from The Idol.
Abel Tesfaye, the Toronto-raised kid of Ethiopian heritage behind The Weeknd, turned moody late-night R&B into stadium business. By Pollstar's count his After Hours Til Dawn tour has grossed more than US$1 billion across 153 shows and 7.5 million tickets. That makes it the highest-grossing tour by a male solo artist.
Lately he has talked about putting the persona to bed. In a January 2025 interview he said it is a headspace he no longer has any desire for, and asked when the right time to leave is if not at your peak. He still hasn't gone anywhere, and the stadium dates keep stacking up.
The big stoush of his career is HBO's The Idol, which he co-created. In 2023 Rolling Stone reported, citing anonymous cast and crew, a chaotic production with degrading content. He told Vanity Fair he thought the article was “ridiculous” and that his online reply was meant to be ridiculous too.
He also pushed back on how the show's sex scenes were read, saying there was nothing sexy about them and that the dark tone was deliberate. Whether you see sharp satire of fame or a show that confused provocation with point depends on your taste. The crew allegations were anonymous and never tested in court, so they stay allegations.
On the harm check he comes up clean. We found no words or campaigns of his against LGBTQ+ people, women, migrants or the planet, and no drift into conspiracy theories or culture-war grievance. His criticism is about a TV show's content, not his own statements, and the record there is thin rather than damning.
The legal record is small and boring, which is a good sign. A 2021 copyright suit alleged his song “Call Out My Name” was strikingly similar to a 2015 track by two producers. He denied it, and in March 2023 the parties reached a settlement in principle with terms undisclosed.