More than watching his team lose the first three games of the NLCS, Dodgers outfielder Alex Call appears to be just as – if not more – upset over Sydney Sweeney’s racy commercial for a sports prediction market, which consistently airs during games.
Call, who was part of the Los Angeles team that won the World Series last year against the Blue Jays, was one of many baseball players – past and present – and fans are speaking out about the Euphoria star’s ad for Novig, during which she appears naked while strategically covering up using sports equipment.
“Can we please get the soft porn ads off playoff broadcasts, TBS, Fox, NBC?” Call wrote while tagging MLB. “My son wants to watch baseball with Dada, but how do I justify that when a half-naked woman could come on screen anytime?? This is America’s Pastime. Parents shouldn’t have to worry about this.”
Several of Call’s Dodgers teammates reposted the message.
Which MLB legend weighed in?
Call, who has apparently been watching games from home after not making the Dodgers’ post-season roster, was replying to a post by Taylor Murphy – the son of MLB great Dale Murphy.
“Hey MLB, wanna get more kids watching baseball? Maybe start with the commercials,” he wrote, citing the inappropriate ads featuring “Megan Fox selling ED pills,” the “scariest movie trailer you’ve ever seen,” and, of course, Sweeney’s racy ad for Novig.
“Leagues can’t figure out why kids don’t watch,” Taylor Murphy added. “You don’t need a Nickelodeon game. You’re not the Savannah Bananas. Just show baseball in a way I can leave on in my house.”
Dale, a two-time MVP, backed his son with his own tweet while also tagging MLB.
Genevieve Albernaz, the wife of Baltimore Orioles manager Craig Albernaz, also shared her disappointment with certain inappropriate ads being shown during games.
“Hey TNT Sports, how about we not advertise HBO Max horror movies at 8:20 p.m. during the ALCS while my kids are watching?! What are we doing?!”
Why are the ads so controversial?
Sweeney’s commercials for Novig, a sports prediction market platform, feature the actress wearing little to no clothing while covering herself with a wide variety of sports equipment.
“Think you know sports? Prove it,” Sweeney says in the ad while holding two footballs over her bare chest.
“Novig is just sports, so they wanted to show just sports,” she continues in the next shot while sitting naked atop a basketball hoop and spinning a ball on her finger, with her long blond hair covering her breasts.
Several iterations of the ad have since been posted on huge billboards in Times Square, among other locations.
Since the commercial blew up on social media, many female athletes have weighed in on the potential impact of the ad on young girls who are interested in sports. British sprinter Amy Hunt commented on Sweeney’s ad after competing in the 200-metre sprint at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest.
“It was incredible to be part of such an incredible race. Sydney Sweeney, this is what women in sport look like,” Hunt said. “Muscles, hard work, sweat, blood, tears. This is a beautiful evening.”
Several other athletes, including Olympians Ariarne Titmus, Kassidy Cook and Matilda Kearns, also spoke out against the ad.
What about Megan Fox?
Fox recently slipped into a skintight red catsuit to take on the new role of Ro Sparks, the fictional face of the namesake prescription ED treatment.
“Why take something that is already a heavy topic and make it heavier?” she said. “It already feels serious, so let it feel fun.”
Ro Sparks is a compounded, 2-in-1 ED treatment that contains sildenafil, the active ingredient in Viagra, and tadalafil, the active ingredient in Cialis, respectively.
In the ad, the Transformers star shows up embodying the medication, delivering information about Ro Sparks through a series of spicy one-liners that will have you doing a double take.
–With Denette Wilford files