Media expert blasts Sydney Sweeney's Novig ad backlash as 'double standard'
Media Research Center content creator Brittany Hughes weighs in on the liberal backlash surrounding actress Sydney Sweeney's latest ad for sports betting app Novig on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026.
After a full week of women athletes fuming at Sydney Sweeney for, apparently, setting women's sports back decades with her naked gambling ad, Sophie Cunningham has set the record straight.
And, to the surprise of approximately nobody, the WNBA's most sane player offered up the most sane take of this entire, silly ordeal.
"Why are girls mad?" Cunningham asked on her newly revamped, "No Hesitation" podcast. "That is literally what she does. Why is anyone mad? It is a gambling ad: men, sports, naked women. Of course, that’s going to draw attention.
"Do I agree with it? Morally, I think it’s kind of weird, but each to their own. Go do your thing, sis."
SYDNEY SWEENEY FIRES BACK AT TROLLS AFTER FACING CRITICISM ONLINE FOR PROVOCATIVE SPORTS AD
Sydney Sweeney faced the wrath of online critics after posing in a provocative new sports betting campaign. (Carlo Paloni)
Sophie Cunningham is back at it
Shockingly, it's another home run for Sophie Cunningham. She just doesn't miss. What a run!
Look, Cunningham's right. This is what Sweeney does. She likes to take her clothes off, if you haven't noticed. It's sort of her shtick. In fact, the whole ad campaign was her idea, according to Novig CEO Jacob Fortinsky!
Sweeney literally came up with the whole thing.
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Actress Sydney Sweeney poses nude in a promotional billboard ad for the sports-prediction market app Novig in Times Square, New York, on Sept. 16, 2026. Sweeney has received online backlash for the ads featuring her nude with strategically placed sporting equipment in Novig's first national ad campaign. (Anthony Behar/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect)
"It really was Sydney who was driving a lot of the visuals and the messaging," he said during a panel earlier this week. "We're hugely supportive of women's sports. I think it's a huge component of our platform. We never intended to portray female sports."
Correct. This ad had nothing to do with women's sports. It was about gambling. Aren't they all nowadays? Seems like it.
Sweeney was catering to one very specific audience, as her and new podcast partner, Drew Hanlen, pointed out. Drew, who wouldn't stop talking, figured around 75% of sports bettors are men.
SOPHIE CUNNINGHAM ADDRESSES PERCEPTION THAT SHE IS THE 'SEX SYMBOL' OF THE WNBA
I think that's way off. I'd put it closer to 90%. Maybe 95%.
Sydney Sweeney and honorary pace car driver Sophie Cunningham pose for photos at a drivers meeting before the NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Ariz., on Nov. 2, 2025. (Getty Images)
Regardless, that's who the ad was for — and it worked!
"I can understand when you first see that ad that like it could kind of deflate women, because it’s like we’ve worked so hard to get a little bit of respect around here," Cunningham continued. "But when you really think about it, it’s like, screw it, let that girl do her thing. This has nothing to do with us.
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"At the end of the day, I’m really loving seeing all these girls who are powerful, strong, showing young girls what it looks like to be an athlete. I don’t think the ad was coming for women in sports."
Another win for the WNBA's most sane player.
