British sprinter Amy Hunt isn’t slowing down when it comes to hitting back at Sydney Sweeney after she posed nude for a sports prediction site.
The Euphoria actress went viral with her ad for Novig last week, stripping all the way down while covering herself up using a variety of sports equipment.
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. Hunt had 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.”
How did Amy Hunt double down on Sweeney?
That wasn’t all that Hunt had on her mind, though. During an appearance on Good Morning Britain on Tuesday morning, the track and field star doubled down, saying that it overly sexualized women’s sports.
“When we’re trying to provide role models for young people and young women in sport, we really want to show that it’s about what your body can do, not so much what it looks like,” Hunt said.
“When we see the stats that 64% of young girls drop out of exercise and sport before they reach the age of 16, we don’t need to place any kind of barrier whatsoever in their way in terms of providing the opportunity and the empowerment for them to still exercise, whatever that looks like, whether it’s professional or just going to do a park run with your friends.
“It’s about empowering young girls and young women and young people to show that you really can just get out there and you don’t have to worry what you look like. You don’t have to worry about what you’re wearing.”
‘OK to be whoever you want to be’
Hunt also was asked if she felt the commercial would negatively impact how men view female athletes with the Olympian citing new broadcast regulations regarding how they are filmed.
“That was a big thing this year for us with the introduction of new broadcasting regulations, in showing the correct or the more appropriate angles of women competing,” Hunt said.
“And it being an empowering thing because I want to race and I want to enjoy it and I want to run as fast as possible. So it’s really important to me that I feel comfortable and I show other people that you can feel comfortable.
“But, also, we get a choice of what to wear. Like, we’re not kind of forced into wearing the briefs.
“It’s important to show young people that it’s OK to be whoever you want to be, to wear whatever you want to wear, to look however you want to look and you can achieve your dreams.”
How did Sydney Sweeney respond to criticism?
While Sweeney hasn’t directly responded to the comments from athletes, she appeared to take a swipe at her critics over the weekend by sharing a gallery of images to her Instagram Story that showed magazine covers of ESPN’s Body Issue featuring athletes like Serena Williams, Ronda Rousey, Sue Bird, Megan Rapinoe, Caroline Wozniacki and Rob Gronkowski.
Her partnership with Novig is, in Sweeney’s own words, “about embracing a fun idea.”
She added in a statement shared with The Hollywood Reporter, “The concept is simple: Cut through the noise and put the focus entirely on sports. The campaign brings that idea to life with confidence, humour and a playful edge.”
Is Sweeney naked in the commercial?
The commercial features Sweeney wearing little to no clothing, covering up 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.
Sweeney is then shown provocatively posing with equipment from several other sports, including tennis, soccer, baseball and hockey goalie pads.
“No betting on wars, on deaths or on politics,” she adds while lying on a locker-room bench and balancing a soccer ball on her feet. “Just you, good takes and sports.”
According to Variety, Sweeney has lost more than 200,000 Instagram followers since the controversial ad campaign launched. However, with the actress still boasting roughly 25.8 million followers on the social media platform, it’s merely a drop in the bucket.
Novig describes itself as a “peer-to-peer sports prediction and trading app focused exclusively on sports outcomes rather than politics or pop culture.” That’s where it differs from competing prediction market sites like Polymarket and Kalshi. Such sites currently aren’t available in Canada.