‘The White Lotus’ creator Mike White hits out at composer for quitting: “Bitch move”
The White Lotus creator Mike White has responded to composer Cristóbal Tapia De Veer, who recently announced his departure, which he said was due to White.
De Veer’s soundtracks and scores have almost become an additional character in the backdrop of all three seasons of The White Lotus. He has won two Emmy Awards for his contribution to the series but will no longer take part.
The composer announced his departure in an interview with the New York Times, and also explained the behind-the-scenes conflict he endured with White, claiming the showrunner “was just saying ‘no’ to anything”.
The composer claimed to have been at loggerheads with White ever since the first season due to creative disagreements regarding the Hawaiian-influenced theme, ‘Hawaiian Hitchcock’. He explained: “I just stuck to what I was doing. And when I was giving versions, it was still the same thing: There were still crazy people and screaming and stuff like that. From there, it became this weird relationship of, ‘How do I pass all this weird music into the show?’”
Now, during an appearance on Howard Stern’s Sirius XM show on April 8th, White has hit back at De Veer.
“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 the broadcaster.
The White Lotus creator then downplayed reports of a rift, continuing, “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.”
White elaborated: “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. I was thrown that he would go to The New York Times to shit on me and the show three days before the finale. It was kinda of a bitch move.”
Despite De Veer exiting The White Lotus, the hit HBO series has already been renewed for a fourth season but details regarding the cast and location have yet to be revealed.
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