USWNT legend caught up in Sydney Sweeney nude advert controversy

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Cameron Smith | Digital Content Producer

USWNT legend Megan Rapinoe has been caught up in the controversy surrounding actress Sydney Sweeney following her viral nude advert with sports prediction market company Novig.

The advert sees Sweeney, 29, pose naked behind various pieces of sports equipment, including a tennis racquet, an American football and a baseball bat, while she promotes Novig and their tagline ‘Just Sports.’

Since the release of the advert on 9 September, Sweeney has faced a barrage of criticism, with a host of professional female athletes taking aim at her for sexualising women’s sport.

American gymnast Gracie Kramer, retired Australian swimmer Ariarne Titmus, British cyclist Sophie Capewell MBE, and a host of others stars have all expressed their disgust at the advert, with Sweeney called out for negatively impacting the progress made in recent years to promote women’s sport.

Several famous female sports influencers on Instagram have also slammed Sweeney, while British sprinter Amy Hunt took aim at the American actress in her post-race interview following her fourth-place finish in the women’s 200m at the Ultimate Championship in Budapest on Sunday.

“Sydney Sweeney, this is what women in sport look like,” Hunt told BBC Sport. “21.4 [seconds]. Muscles. Hard work, blood, sweat, tears. This is a beautiful evening.”

Megan Rapinoe caught in Sydney Sweeney crossfire

Sweeney is yet to publicly respond to the criticism she has received for the semi-nude advert, although she has conveyed her opinion on the matter via her Instagram Stories.

Hitting back at critics, Sweeney posted a series of images of nude athletes - both male and female - used on the front cover of ESPN’s annual edition of ‘The Body Issue.’

The Body Issue was intended to rival Sports Illustrated’s annual Swimsuit Issue and the likes of Serena Williams, Ronda Rousey and Caroline Wozniacki were among the female athletes chosen for the nude campaign. Rapinoe also appeared in the campaign in 2014.

Meanwhile, in 2018, Rapinoe and her partner Sue Bird became the first same-sex couple to be featured on the cover of The Body Issue. Both women were nude in the campaign and Bird was seen twirling a basketball on her finger, while Rapinoe had a football trapped under her foot.

The picture chosen for the front cover is one of several posted by Sweeney to defend herself from critics who claim she has set women’s sport back by sexualising herself for the male gaze.

Sweeney, who rose to fame thanks to her breakout role as Cassie Howard in the HBO teen drama series Euphoria, is now a household name in Hollywood, boasting over 25 million followers on Instagram, and she will next star in The Custom of the Country, written and directed by Josie Rourke.

This isn’t the first media storm that Sweeney has experienced following a controversial advert, either, with the actress widely criticised after starring in a campaign called ‘Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans’ for American Eagle Outfitters last year. Critics claimed that the pun on “jeans” and “genes” was close to eugenic terminology.