Cristobal Tapia de Veer did not attend Night 1 of the 2025 Creative Arts Emmy Awards where he was nominated in two categories for Season 3 of HBO’s The White Lotus and won in one of them, Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music.
It was his fourth Emmy overall for The White Lotus; he won two for Season 1 (for Main Title Theme Music and Original Dramatic Score) and one for Season 2 (Original Dramatic Score). It will be his last as de Veer will not be returning for Season 4 of the hit anthology, blaming his exit on creative clashes with series creator, writer, director and executive producer Mike White.
Just as he didn’t mince words in his New York Times interview in April about his departure, de Veer was defiant in his reaction to the latest Emmy win, not mentioning White or HBO as his customary in acceptance speeches.
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“I respect the Academy because those votes can’t be bought. No smear campaign distracted them,” he wrote across his social media channels Sunday morning. “Thank you, this means a lot to me in more than one way 🙏 I’m happy you connected with this melody cause it was an amazing trip making it.”
It is unclear what smear campaign de Veer is referring to. While HBO did not actively campaign for him this year the way it has for previous seasons, the network submitted him in both the Main Title Theme Music and Original Dramatic Score categories just like it had done in the past. Both submissions resulted in nominations.
And it was de Veer who went public and aired his grievances in the NYT interview a couple of days before The White Lotus‘ Season 3 finale, something White called “a bitch move” when asked about it by Howard Stern several days later.
White denied that the two feuded, saying “he’s definitely making a big deal out of a creative difference.”
The White Lotus‘ Season 3 Main Title Theme music, which won the Emmy, is the show’s first without the now famous “ooh-loo-loo-loo”s that made the previous two opening credits themes pop culture phenoms, with the Season 2 also becoming a global dance club hit.
According to de Veer, the refusal of his request to include his extended version of the theme that included the popular motif later in the show was one of the main sources of contention during the making of Season 3.
In his reaction to the Emmy win, the Chilean-Canadian composer shared his inspiration for the theme.
“It’s about this firefly I met and filmed for an hour,” he said next to a video of the said firefly to his White Lotus music.