A post from Sydney Sweeney received a massive backlash in a promotional video for Novig, a sports trading app. In light of this reaction, the American actress made another post on Sunday on her Instagram featuring stills from the ad campaign. She fired back at critics by bringing up previous athletes who’d posed similarly, such as WNBA legend Sue Bird, among others.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
The American actress posted pictures of Bird posing for ESPN eight years ago. In 2018, the Seattle Storm legend and soccer legend Megan Rapinoe posed for ESPN’s Body Issue. They became the first couple to pose for the issue. ESPN also released a video of Bird and Rapinoe’s behind-the-scenes.
She also posted pictures of previous ESPN magazine covers that featured athletes like Serena Williams, Ronda Rousey, and Caroline Wozniacki posing similarly for the issue.
Other WNBA athletes like Candace Parker have also posed in a similar manner for sports magazines in the past. This wasn’t her only response, as another post also followed on Sunday.
In last week’s IG video, Sweeney was seen posing with a football, a basketball, a baseball bat, and tennis balls. The company described it as “Sydney Sweeney wearing just sports.”
On Sunday, the Hollywood actress posted a series of pictures featuring her with sports equipment.
“It’s gamedayyyy,” she wrote in the caption.
Still, Sweeney has continued to face backlash, especially from athletes across the globe. British athlete Lucy Davis slammed the actress with a very strong message on social media.
“I don’t know wtf Sydney Sweeney was doing, but it’s 2026,” she wrote. “Stop sexualizing women in sport.”
Australian Olympian Sally Pearson also slammed Sweeney. In response to the actress putting pictures of athletes posing in the past as her defense, Pearson said that there was a difference between an actress posing and an athlete posing for sports.
“I am a bit shocked that we’ve gone back to sexualizing women’s bodies to sell sports,” she said. “When you have somebody who is not an athlete (meaning an actress)…it doesn’t necessarily celebrate what women’s sports are all about, or at least what sports are about.”
Several athletes have accused Sydney Sweeney of “reversing decades of work to be seen as more than just their bodies.”