Storm Reid Reacts To Backlash Over Her Euphoria Finale Comment
"At the end of the day, as much as we love it, it’s a show."
While her character Gia Bennett may have been absent from Euphoria’s final season, Storm Reid still made her presence known. As the series’ last episode aired on May 31, Reid posted a referential joke to TikTok. “Sorry rue i’m busy in the stu,” Reid wrote alongside a video teasing her new music. The remark was generally considered to be ill-timed, considering how Rue’s story ended, and Reid admits she regrets the comment now that she is aware of what happened in the finale.
“I love Zendaya. I love Rue, and I had no idea that that was going to be her fate,” Reid told The Hollywood Reporter on June 17. She’s referring to Rue’s death after taking a pill laced with fentanyl in Euphoria’s closing chapter. “I probably wouldn’t have posted the TikTok or made that my caption if I knew.”
While some fans interpreted Reid’s TikTok as a callous cold shoulder to Rue’s struggles, it can also be read as a quip about Gia’s notable absence from Season 3. Archival footage Reid’s character briefly appeared during Rue’s final hallucination, but aside from that, Rue’s family was almost completely M.I.A.
After getting some pushback for the post, Reid wanted to remind overzealous fans that the Euphoria characters are not real people. “It is what it is. At the end of the day, as much as we love it, it’s a show,” Reid said. “So we can be attached and we can love it for what it is and it could be forever held in our hearts, but it’s also not real.”
“I think that’s where people are getting a little confused or the lines are getting a little convoluted,” Reid continued. “But I mean, hey, people are fans. It’s good to have fans, and it’s good to have people who really ride for you no matter what.”
With Euphoria firmly in the rearview, Reid is now focused on her new music career, after dropping her debut single “Clean Sweep” on June 5.
