Olympic athletes are condemning Sydney Sweeney’s sports betting ad, accusing the actress of sexualizing women in sports.
Sweeney, 29, is facing intense backlash over her ad for Novig, a sports prediction market, in which she poses nude—covered only by the likes of basketball hoops and footballs—and pretends to play various games.
Athletes worldwide have called out the messaging behind Sweeney’s ad, saying the 60-second clip both mocks and minimizes the real work, grit, and strength it takes to be a woman in sports.
American gymnast Gracie Kramer kicked off the trend, posting a viral video of her performances and training. “Idk what Sydney Sweeney was doing but this is what a woman in sports looks like,” wrote Kramer in an Instagram video.
Multiple athletes followed suit, including track sprinter Bree Rizzo, championship boxer Skye Nicolson, runner Mary McCarthy, track star Amy Hunt, and Olympic swimmer Lani Pallister. In a video, Australian Olympic water polo player Tilly Kearns wrote, “I absolutely fking hate Sydney Sweeney’s new sports ad.”
“Like what are we doing … so much worse than I imagined too,” she said in the caption.
In a scathing statement, the Female Athlete Project, an online platform and community, said, “We’re not entirely sure if ‘Novig’ or Sydney Sweeney and her PR team have ever watched sports. But honestly, wow. It’s incredible they could fit so much misogyny in 40 seconds.”
“Sport has long treated women’s bodies as commodities,” the statement continued, “And this objectification does nothing to support real women in sports.”
Australian field hockey player and Olympian Jocelyn Bartram echoed this analysis. “There are so many different ways to get people’s attention rather than sexualising women’s sport once again. For another woman to bring female athletes down to such a level when we have fought so long to be recognised by our male counterparts and are still fighting to prove we belong everyday, just leaves me speechless,” she wrote.
Sweeney did not just star in the ad. The 29-year-old actress joined Novig as a strategic partner and equity holder.
In a statement, Sweeney explained that her campaign was “about embracing a fun idea.”
“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, humor and a playful edge.”
Sweeney is no stranger to creating controversy through her ad campaign choices. Last year, the Euphoria actress sparked widespread debate with her American Eagle ad, which declared “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans” as the blonde, blue-eyed star posed in denim. The ad was embraced by MAGA and right-wingers, who made Sweeney an unofficial poster child for their views.
With her politics under scrutiny for months after the debacle, Sweeney has attempted to explain herself, saying people “assign” views to her without context. “I don’t support the views some people chose to connect to the campaign. Many have assigned motives and labels to me that just aren’t true,” she told People in December.
“I think this next year I want to be really intentional with showing people who I am and what I want, cause so many people can just get it wrong,” the star said.
