Sydney Sweeney’s new NSFW sports betting ad has been criticised by some Olympic athletes.

The Euphoria star appeared in the new commercial for sports trading app Novig. In the ad, Sydney is largely naked, with parts of her body concealed with sporting equipment.

Over the weekend, athletes took to social media to voice their concerns about the new advertisement, many of whom criticised the campaign as sexualising women’s sport.
British athlete Lucy Davis wrote: “I don’t know wtf Sydney Sweeney was doing, but it’s 2026…stop sexualising women in sport.”

Olympic gold medal winner Ariadne Titmus also shared concerns, 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. How do we live in a world where monetising a woman’s body and sexualising women’s sport is still a thing?”

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American gymnast Gracie Kramer wrote: “Idk what Sydney Sweeney was doing, but this is what a woman in sports looks like,” alongside a reel that has since had well over a million likes.

British sprinter Amy Hunt also addressed the controversy surrounding the advert after running in the 200m final at the Ultimate Championship in Budapest. “Sydney Sweeney, this is what women in sport look like,” she told the BBC in a post race interview.

Referring to Melissa Jefferson-Wooden’s winning time of 21.47 seconds, Hunt added: “21.4. Muscles. Hard work, blood, sweat, tears. When you’re a woman in sport, it’s not pretty. It’s not glamorous. It’s not sexy all the time, definitely.”

Responding to the campaign last week, Sweeney said (per Variety): “The campaign was about embracing a fun idea. The concept is simple: cut through the noise and put the focus entirely on sports. The campaign brings that idea to life with confidence, humour and a playful edge.”

Earlier this summer, the actress also courted controversy when she fronted the jeans advertisement, called ‘Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans’. Some social media users alleged that the pun on “jeans” and “genes” being part of an advertising campaign with a blonde-haired, blue-eyed white woman promoted eugenics and white supremacy.

A number of prominent figures, including Vice President JD Vance and even President Donald Trump shared their own views. Trump was asked about the campaign amid claims that Sweeney was a registered Republican.

While Sweeney didn’t respond at first, she later said that she did not “support the views some people chose to connect to the campaign”.

Speaking to Cosmopolitan, Sweeney said at the time: “It’s definitely not a comfortable thing to have people saying what you believe or think, especially when that doesn’t align with you.

“It’s been a weird thing having to navigate and digest, because it’s not me. None of it is me. And I’m having to watch it happen. I’m online and I see things, but I’m slowly pulling myself away. It’s definitely gone to a level where it’s just not healthy for me to digest it all.”

On top of the outcry over her American Eagle ad campaign, Sweeney has had mixed success at the box office in recent months, too. The sports biopic Christy, in which she played the titular boxer, became one of the biggest movie flops of all time, but psychological thriller The Housemaid proved a critical and commercial success a few weeks later.

Sweeney responded to Christy’s box office failure, writing on Instagram: “We don’t always just make art for numbers, we make it for impact.”

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