‘White Lotus’ Creator Calls out Collaborator’s ‘B— Move’

Mike White, writer/director/producer of HBO’s megahit The White Lotus, has a bone to pick with a former collaborator.

Just before the third season’s finale aired, series composer Cristóbal Tapia de Veer told the New York Times that he would not be returning to the series for the upcoming fourth season after a fight with White.

White appeared on Howard Stern’s radio show this Tuesday to address the feud. “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 said. “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 continued. “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 s–t on me and the show three days before the finale. It was kind of a b—h move.”

He added that it was difficult to get de Veer to do any work during the first two seasons, and that de Veer’s Emmy win made the relationship even more frustrating.

“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. He would always look at me with this contemptuous smirk on his face like he thought I was a chimp or something,” White said. “He’s definitely making a big deal out of a creative difference.”

Stern asked why de Veer would give up on the hit series that made him famous over some creative differences, considering how big the show is.

White replied, “He is very talented. [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.”

The White Lotus has already been renewed for a fourth season, although there are no plot details or announcements of a release date. While waiting for the next White Lotus check-in at HBO, take a look at our actor wishlist for season 4.