Sydney Sweeney has defended her nude sports gambling ad as “embracing a fun idea” after female athletes worldwide condemned the campaign as damaging and regressive.
The 29-year-old Euphoria actress stars in a commercial for Novig, a sports betting platform, in which she appears fully nude while covering herself with footballs, basketballs and other athletic equipment. British sprinter Amy Hunt, 23, delivered one of the most pointed rebukes during her post-race interview at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest last Friday.
“First off,” Hunt said, firing back at the ad’s portrayal of women in athletics. “I looked good here.”
“This is what women’s sport looks like!: 21.4. Muscles. Hard work, blood, sweat, tears. This is a beautiful evening,” she continued. “When you’re a woman in sport, it’s not pretty. It’s not glamorous. It’s not sexy all the time, definitely.”
Hunt added a raw personal detail to underscore her point: “There’s some low moments. Even turning up to this championship, my period started yesterday, so that’s not really ideal, and that’s not ever what you try to really plan for.”
Australian swimming champion Ariarne Titmus shared her outrage on Instagram, writing: “I can’t describe how infuriated I feel when I watch this. Not only is it a kick in the face to every woman who has dedicated her life to perfecting her craft, but every woman who enjoys sports for what it really is – teamwork, friendship, dedication, excellence, unity.”
Titmus pressed further: “How do we live in a world where monetising a woman’s body and sexualising women’s sport is still a thing?”
American gymnast Gracie Kramer posted an Instagram Reel pushing back at Sweeney’s depiction, stating: “Idk what Sydney Sweeney was doing, but this is what a woman in sport looks like.”
Hockeyroos goalkeeper Joc Bartram expressed disappointment on social media that women’s athletic achievements remain overshadowed by sexualized imagery. British Olympic cycling gold medalist Sophie Capewell offered a pointed alternative vision on her platform: “Imagine a world where sexualised representation isn’t the most popular way of seeing women in sport.”
Sweeney responded to mounting criticism by posting a series of images showing prominent female and male athletes who have posed nude for magazine shoots. Her selection included tennis legend Serena Williams, soccer star Megan Rapinoe, basketball player Sue Bird, NFL players Myles Garrett and Rob Gronkowski, NBA center Karl-Anthony Towns, and retired Eagles center Jason Kelce.
In a statement, Sweeney framed the Novig campaign as deliberately playful rather than exploitative. “The concept is simple: cut through the noise and put the focus entirely on sports,” she said. “The campaign brings that idea to life with confidence, humour and a playful edge.” She described the ad overall as “about embracing a fun idea.”
The controversy arrives months after Sweeney’s American Eagle “Great Jeans” campaign drew backlash for language critics compared to eugenics. In the since-deleted video, Sweeney said: “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye colour. My jeans are blue.” She later said she had been “honestly surprised by the reaction” and did not “support the views some people chose to connect to the campaign.”