Add The New York Post on Google Fever guard Sophie Cunningham said she was inundated with messages asking her to weigh in on the controversial Novig ad featuring Sydney Sweeney, who posed nude for the sports gambling company.
During Thursday’s installment of the “No Hesitation” podcast, Cunningham explained that she wasn’t surprised about Sweeney’s role in the ad for the sports prediction market because it’s targeting male sports gamblers.
“I have so many takes. But first of all, does she even gamble on sports? It’s so unauthentic,” Cunningham began. “Am I surprised how she represented the brand? That’s what she made her whole career off. Don’t get me wrong, I like her.
“She sticks to her guns, and she does her thing and she’s her. Props to her. Do I like it? Like that particular ad? Not really. I think it’s like, what are we doing? But again, I’m not surprised. That’s what she’s known for. She’s making her money. Go do your thing, sis.
“But why are girls mad? That is literally what she does. Why is anyone mad? It is a gambling ad: men, sports, pretty much naked women. Of course, that’s going to draw attention. Again, do I agree with it? Morally, I think it’s kind of weird, but each to their own. Go do your thing, sis.”
Cunningham explained that she didn’t believe the Novig ad was an attack on women in sports.
“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,” she said. “I don’t think the ad was coming for women in sport.
“… I just want girls to know, don’t shrink. Don’t shrink to make other people feel better about themselves when you’re born to stick out. I will say though, 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. But then when you really think about it, it’s like, screw it, let that girl do her thing. This has nothing to do with us.”
Cunningham recalled meeting Sweeney at a NASCAR event last year.
“I spent like five minutes with her. I met her, but do I know her? No,” she said.
Sweeney is fully nude with her body being covered by sports parafernalia in the ad, entitled, “Novig is Just Sports.”
Many female athletes, such as Olympic swimmer Ararne Titumus and sprinter Amy Hunt, called out Novig and Sweeney for sexualizing women and setting back the progress women in sports have made.
Novig CEO Jacob Fortinsky said they had no intention of portraying women’s sports in the ad.
“Sydney’s an actress,” Fortinsky told Front Office Sports. “We’re a prediction market that is focused on sports, and that was the story she was communicating.”
