Sydney Sweeney under fire from athletes over nude sports-prediction ad
CNN • • entertainment
Key Points:
- Female athletes have strongly criticized a Novig advertising campaign featuring Sydney Sweeney in nude or minimal clothing with sports equipment, calling it "hypersexualized" and damaging to women in sports, especially young girls.
- Australian athletes including surfer Felicity Palmateer, swimmer Ariarne Titmus, swimmer Lani Pallister, and boxer Skye Nicholson condemned the campaign for undermining the values of sport and promoting harmful stereotypes.
- Sydney Sweeney responded to the backlash by sharing photos from ESPN The Magazine’s “Body Issue,” a publication known for featuring athletes nude or semi-nude, but has not issued a formal apology or detailed explanation.
- This is not the first controversy involving Sweeney’s advertising work; a previous campaign for American Eagle in 2025 sparked accusations of promoting eugenics and white supremacism, which she addressed without apology in a GQ interview.
- CNN has reached out to Sweeney’s representatives and Novig for comment on the current controversy.
