Sydney Sweeney Loses More Than 200,000 Instagram Followers Amid Growing Backlash Over Her Nude Sports-Betting Ad — SkimNews
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- Sydney Sweeney lost more than 200,000 Instagram followers — 136,848 on Sunday and another 68,000 on Monday — following backlash over a nude Novig sports-betting ad, according to Social Blade data.
- Novig's 60-second ad features Sweeney posing fully or partially nude with footballs, basketballs, a soccer ball, and a hockey net; the Instagram post has racked up 1.1 million likes since she shared it last Wednesday.
- Ariarne Titmus, a four-time Olympic gold medal swimmer from Australia, wrote that she is "infuriated" by the ad's monetization of women's bodies and sexualization of women's sport, joining other female Olympians in condemning it.
- The follower drop represents less than 1% of Sweeney's 25 million-plus Instagram following — and reversed a 50,000-follower gain she had posted in the three days immediately after the ad launched.
- Sweeney has joined Novig as a strategic partner and equity holder, not merely a spokesperson; the federally regulated platform launched nationwide last month with a 21+ age requirement.
- Sweeney pushed back against critics by posting covers from the ESPN Body Issue — which features naked athletes — on her Instagram Stories and sharing more Novig ad footage captioned "it's gamedayyy @novig #novigpartner."
Why it matters: Sweeney's 200,000-follower hit is less than 1% of her base, so her personal brand absorbs the blow easily — but her equity stake in Novig ties her financial interests to a federally regulated platform now drawing organized criticism from Olympic athletes who carry outsized cultural weight in shaping how women's sports are marketed.
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