Who is Tomas Mier? Rolling Stone writer under fire over The Weeknd monkey tweet reaction

A writer for Rolling Stone, Tomas Mier has come under fire for replying to a tweet by The Weeknd, where the singer is criticizing the publication. Mier replied to the tweet with a picture of a monkey on Friday, March 3, 2023.

The unfortunate interaction took place after the publication shared an exposé on Abel Makkonen Tesfaye aka The Weeknd's upcoming series for HBO, The Idol, claiming there are issues with its production.

Mier's response, which has since been deleted, comes after the Blinding Lights singer shared a teaser promo for the series on Twitter which featured him criticizing the magazine, with the comment:

"@RollingStone did we upset you?"

The writer now faces criticism for his seemingly racist tweet. Following the public backlash, he immediately deleted the post, stating:

"Damn this really isn't the week for me on the bird app... I just deleted a tweet where I used a reaction pic of a monkey looking surprised in reference to The Weeknd's video response to an RS investigation. Twitter thinks I was being racist. This clearly wasn't my intention."

Mier, a Bay Area native, is a journalist with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and Latinx studies from the University of Southern California (USC). He was the editor of the university's newspaper Daily Trojan.

He previously worked on the COVID-19 team of the LA Times during the 2020 pandemic. He was a contributor to the newspaper's renowned The Pandemic’s Toll: Lives Lost in California initiative between USC and the Pulitzer Center. Much of his writing is featured in People Magazine, Teen Vogue, and similar outlets.

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"Alexa: show me disingenuous backpedaling": Netizens slam Tomás Mier for The Weeknd tweet

As Tomas's tweet went viral, appalled internet users took to the micro-blogging platform to call out the journalist. They pointed out that his backpedaling did nothing for his bigoted behavior. They remarked that his statement just explained himself but there was no apology.

Many used Mier's past tweets as an example to show his hateful behavior. A user Lachi, @jinwwhseokjin called Rolling Stone unprofessional, stating:

"@Tomas_Mier @RillingStone why is your staff being hateful to twice, it's literally showing that it comes from a place of hate like all teh other blinks hating twice. How unprofessional."

Another user @BeGentleGhost simply stated:

Here are some other comments seen on Twitter calling out Tomas:

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The Idol, starring The Weeknd, has plenty of production issues, including constant delays, reshoots, and rewrites

According to the article by Rolling Stone, titled, ‘The Idol’: How HBO’s Next ‘Euphoria’ Became Twisted ‘Torture P*rn,' by Cheyenne Roundtree published on March 1, 2023, The Weeknd felt the series was too female-oriented under the original director, Amy Seimetz.

She soon abruptly exited the show, with Sam Levnison of Euphoria fame signed on as her replacement, which drastically changed the direction in which the show was heading. According to the publication, sources close to the show described it as offensive, like a r*pe fantasy, before adding:

"It was, let’s just say, a s-show."

The release date for The Idol is yet to be announced.