The debate over Sydney Sweeney's sports betting ad just got a whole lot louder. Radio host Craig Carton has jumped into the fray, and he's not holding back.
On his show, The Craig Carton Show, the OutKick personality went on a rant about the backlash Sweeney has faced for her Novig campaign. The ad, part of the company's "Just Sports" push, features the Euphoria star draped in footballs, basketballs, and hockey gear. Critics, including several pro athletes, have accused it of sexualizing women in sports.
Carton isn't having any of it. "The world's going crazy when it comes to the photographs of Sydney Sweeney. 'Oh, we're sexualizing women. It's not right. It's setting the women's movement back 100 years.' No, you're just ugly. That's what that is," he said, as reported by OutKick. He then split the world into two groups: "There's going to be here on the left side, crazy people. We're gonna call you 'crazy.' On the other side, I'm just gonna refer to you as not crazy."
The controversy started when tennis player Priscilla Hon took to Instagram to slam the ad. "Sydney Sweeney looks amazing, and honestly good for her. But this isn't about her or her body," she wrote. "Young girls already grow up feeling like they have to look a certain way. They're constantly being shown what the 'perfect' body is supposed to look like, and sport should be one of the places that teaches them their bodies are about what they can DO, not how they look."
Olympic gold medalist Ariarne Titmus also weighed in, saying she felt "infuriated" watching the ad. "How do we live in a world where monetizing a woman's body and sexualizing women's sport is still a thing?" she asked.
But Carton's take is a sharp contrast, and he's not alone in defending Sweeney. The actress has also received support from some fans and commentators who see the backlash as overblown. Meanwhile, Novig CEO Jacob Fortinsky defended the campaign at the Front Office Sports' Asset Class conference. "As a company, we're hugely supportive of women's sports," he said. "We never intended to portray female sports. Sydney's an actress. We're a prediction market that is focused on sports, and that was the story she was communicating."
Sweeney herself hasn't publicly responded to the criticism, but reports suggest she's lost over 200,000 Instagram followers since the ad dropped. Still, Carton's fiery defense might just shift the conversation.
This isn't the first time Sweeney has been at the center of a sports-related buzz. She recently turned heads with a bold new sports campaign, and her 29th birthday photo broke the internet. But this ad has sparked a different kind of attention, with some athletes like Priscilla Hon slamming the ad for its impact on young girls.
Whether you side with Carton or the critics, one thing's for sure: the ad has everyone talking. And Carton's blunt take is likely to keep the debate raging.
