“Maybe I was being unprofessional, and, for sure, Mike feels that I was always unprofessional to him”: White Lotus composer wins Emmy for third time despite fallout with show’s creator

The White Lotus composer Christobal Tapia de Veer has won the Emmy for the Best Original Main Title despite a very public falling out with the show’s mainman Mike White. It’s the third time de Veer has scooped the Emmy for the HBO drama since it began in 2021.

According to an interview de Veer gave to The New York Times back in April. “I announced to the (editorial) team a few months ago that I was not coming back, that I was leaving… At some point, (White) heard about that.”

The main bone of contention between the two men, according to de Veers anyway, was the theme song, specifically the “ooh-loo-loo-loos” that were a part of the season one track.

By the third season, the sound was removed from the series’ opening credit music, but was still featured on the full version of the track, with de Veer admitting, “I just stuck to what I was doing.”

The White Lotus Opening Credits Theme Song | The White Lotus | HBO - YouTube

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Just days after the New York Times interview ran, White returned fire in an interview with Howard Stern. “I honestly don’t know what happened,” he said, “except now I’m reading his interviews because he decides to do some PR campaign about him leaving the show. I don’t think he respected me.”

“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. 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 kind of a bitch move.”

Anyway, after the Emmy win last night, de Veer was sounding more conciliatory towards his old boss. “Maybe I was being unprofessional, and, for sure, Mike feels that I was always unprofessional to him because I didn’t give him what he wanted,” he told the Hollywood Reporter.

“But what I gave him did this, you know — (won) those Emmys, people going crazy (for the show),” he said. “It was worth all the tension and almost forcing the music into the show. This was a good struggle.”