Sophie Cunningham Responds to Sydney Sweeney's Controversial Novig Ad

Sophie Cunningham didn’t dance around it.

On the latest episode of her podcast “No Hesitation,” the Indiana Fever guard laid out exactly how she feels about Sydney Sweeney’s controversial new ad for the sports betting app Novig — and why, to her, the outrage doesn’t quite add up.

“I have so many takes,” she said, before landing on the one that matters most to her: she’s disappointed, but not surprised.

Sweeney’s Novig ad sparks backlash

Sweeney, already under scrutiny this year for a racy American Eagle jeans campaign, is again at the center of a storm. The Novig spot shows the “Euphoria” star mostly nude, her body covered only by strategically placed sports equipment — two footballs, a basketball hoop, and other props that turn the ad into a glossy, hyper-sexualized tableau.

The imagery has drawn sharp criticism from across the athletic world. Artistic gymnast Gracie Kramer, runner Mary McCarthy and other athletes have publicly condemned the campaign, arguing that it leans on tired tropes about women’s bodies in sports spaces.

Cunningham has been flooded with “text messages, DMs and comments” about it, enough that she dedicated a chunk of Thursday’s show to her unfiltered response.

‘So unauthentic’

Her first issue isn’t even the nudity. It’s the premise.

“First of all, like, does she even gamble on sports?” Cunningham asked on the podcast. “It’s just so unauthentic. You know what I mean?”

To Cunningham, the ad feels exactly like what she’s come to expect from Sweeney’s commercial work.

“Am I surprised of how she represented the brand? No. That’s what she’s made her whole career off,” she said.

Cunningham made clear she isn’t anti-Sweeney. In fact, she repeatedly stressed the opposite.

“Hey, don’t get me wrong, like I like her,” she said. “Everyone knows she is beautiful. She is hot. She clearly has my chest ... And so like, I really like her. And you know what, she sticks to her guns, and she does her thing and she’s her, so like props to her.”

But admiration for the actress doesn’t extend to this particular piece of marketing.

Cunningham’s verdict on the Novig spot: “Not really” for her.

‘Why is anyone mad?’

Cunningham’s stance lives in a gray area that a lot of athletes seem to be wrestling with. She doesn’t endorse the ad. She also doesn’t see it as a direct attack on women in sport.

She knows why people bristle at it. She also knows the basic formula at work.

“It is a gambling ad. Men, sports, pretty much naked women – like of course that’s going to draw attention,” she said.

Then she cut to the heart of the discourse.

“But why are girls mad? That is literally what she does. Why is anyone mad?”

Cunningham said that, on a moral level, the ad feels “kind of weird” to her, but she stops short of condemning Sweeney herself.

“Again, do I agree with it? Uh, morally, I think it’s kind of weird but like to each their own. Go do your thing, sis.”

Not an attack on female athletes

Where some athletes see the Novig campaign as undermining years of work to earn respect, Cunningham sees a different picture emerging from the backlash — one she actually welcomes.

She’s been struck by the wave of strong, unapologetic responses from women who live inside the arena every day.

“I'm really loving seeing all these girls who are powerful, strong, showing young girls what it looks like to actually be an athlete,” she said.

She pushed back on the idea that the ad itself is “coming for” women in sport.

“I don't think the ad was coming for women in sport,” Cunningham said. “But I think it has been so cool to see girls who, you know what, they're muscly, their thighs touch, they have broad shoulders, they might be taller than the average girl and probably the average boy, but you know what, I think that's what it is. Like, you gotta embrace your power.”

In her view, the real story isn’t Sweeney’s body on a screen. It’s the bodies on courts, tracks and fields, and the way those athletes are choosing to present themselves in contrast.

‘This has nothing to do with us’

Cunningham understands the gut reaction. For women who have fought for every inch of legitimacy in sports, seeing yet another ad lean on a nearly naked woman to sell betting can feel like a step backward.

“At first glance,” she admitted, Sweeney’s ad could be seen as an offensive portrayal of female athletes, something that “could kind of deflate women because it's like we've worked so hard to get a little bit of respect around here.”

But after sitting with it, Cunningham landed somewhere else entirely.

“When you really think about it, it's like, ‘Screw it, let that girl go do her thing,’” she said. “We can still, this has nothing to do with us.”

For Cunningham, the line is clear: athletes will keep building their own image of strength, power and authenticity. Whatever Sydney Sweeney does in a betting ad runs on a separate track.