Alexis Ohanian has spent years pushing for more attention, investment, and respect for women’s sports. From backing Angel City FC to launching ATHLOS as an all-female track and field event, the Reddit co-founder has made women’s sports a major part of his work. Now, as ATHLOS makes its international debut in London on September 18, Ohanian has found himself at the center of a heated conversation sparked by Sydney Sweeney’s controversial sports advertisement.

Speaking about the backlash surrounding Sweeney’s campaign, Ohanian made it clear that his issue was not with the actress choosing to appear in the ad. “I’m not even mad,” Ohanian said. “If she wants to be naked for a commercial, that’s great, fine. It’s the false equivalence that I really support our athletes calling out about. The irony is my feed, at least, has been full of women athletes showing off, doing great women athlete stuff, which is awesome.”

The comments came after Sweeney faced backlash over a Novig advertisement released on September 9. The campaign featured the actress with little clothing while sports equipment covered parts of her body, sparking criticism from female athletes who argued that the advertisement s**ualized women in a sports-related setting. 

Sweeney later appeared to answer the backlash by sharing a series of ESPN Body Issue images on Instagram Stories. The posts featured professional athletes who had posed nude or semi-nude for the publication, including Serena Williams, Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird. Sweeney did not explicitly say that the posts were directed at her critics, but their timing led many observers to view them as a response to the controversy.

This move brought Ohanian into the story personally because Serena Williams is his wife. Ohanian’s comments focused on what he saw as a difference between Sweeney’s commercial and athletes choosing to pose for publications such as ESPN’s Body Issue. “ESPN Body Issue is very obviously different from an actress just being naked for a commercial,” Ohanian said.

He explained that athletes who pose for the Body Issue are showing bodies shaped by years of training and competition. “These are professional athletes who have devoted decades of their life towards a physical goal and their body is their résumé. So I have no problem understanding why it is totally OK for an athlete, man or woman, to pose naked tastefully. They are physically fit and showing it off because they grinded in the gym every morning to play football, ski, or whatever the hell they do.”

Ohanian also praised the female athletes who used the controversy as an opportunity to bring more attention to their own careers. “I love seeing these athletes hijack this troll to turn it into something that is able to support or at least promote themselves,” Ohanian said, according to ESPN.  Before Ohanian weighed in, however, the athletes themselves had already made their feelings clear.

Olympic stars challenge the message behind Sweeney’s campaign

Four-time Olympic swimming champion Ariarne Titmus said she was “infuriated” by the campaign, calling it “a kick in the face to every woman who has dedicated her life to perfecting her craft.” She also questioned why women’s bodies were still being s**ualized to sell products connected to sport.

British sprinter Amy Hunt also addressed Sweeney directly after competing at the Ultimate Championship. “Sydney Sweeney, this is what women in sport look like,” Hunt said, pointing to Melissa Jefferson-Wooden’s 21.47-second 200m victory and highlighting the “muscles, hard work, sweat, blood, tears” behind elite competition.

Olympic cycling champion Sophie Capewell also joined the conversation, sharing a training video while writing about a world where “women are seen for what they can do, not just what they look like.” She added that the issue was “not really about Sydney Sweeney” but about “what gets attention and why.”

American gymnast Gracie Kramer was another athlete to respond, posting footage of herself competing alongside the message: “I don’t know what Sydney Sweeney was doing, but this is what a woman in sport looks like.”

For Ohanian, the controversy has only strengthened the conversation he wants ATHLOS to create: putting women athletes, their work, and their achievements in the spotlight.