‘What are we doing’: Australian Olympian Tilly Kearns hits back at Sydney Sweeney’s nude sports ad

Sydney Sweeney has responded with nude photos of other athletes after facing backlash for stripping down in a new sports ad. In the clip, the US actress appears naked, with strategically placed footballs and sporting equipment the only other props.

Since the Novig advert was released last week, a number of female athletes have spoken out against it, accusing the campaign of “sexualising” women’s bodies rather than celebrating women in sport.

Among them is Australian two-time Olympian and one of the world’s leading water polo players, Matilda “Tilly” Kearns, who hit back at the ad on Instagram.

“I absolutely f****** hate Sydney Sweeney’s new sports ad,” Kearns titled her clip, which shows her training and playing with her team and the moment she received her silver Olympic medal.

“Like what are we doing … so much worse than I imagined too,” Kearns wrote in the caption of her post.

“Here’s some real women sports content.”

Female athletes from around the world have shared clips to Instagram, criticising Sweeney for using her body to sell a “sports betting ad built for men”.

American gymnast Gracie Kramer posted a video of herself competing and captioned it: “I don’t know what Sydney Sweeney was doing, but this is what a woman is sports looks like.”

In an interview with NBC news on Sunday, Kramer said the issue was “so much bigger than Sydney Sweeney” and that it was not about shaming the actor.

Kramer said she spoke out as a reminder that generations of women fought to be respected for their talent and accomplishments rather than judged on their bodies.

Sweeney’s new campaign is for a sports prediction market company called Novig, a company she’s also an equity holder in.

The advert starts with Sweeney covering her chest with two footballs.

“Thinking of sports? Prove it,” Sweeney says.

“Novig is just sports, so they wanted to show ... just sports,” she continues, sitting on top of a basketball ring, apparently naked and spinning a ball on her finger.

The clip then continues to show Sweeney playing different sports, including hockey, baseball and tennis.

“No politics, just you, your takes and sports,” the Euphoria star ends the controversial clip.

In response to the backlash, Sweeney shared a series of photos of athletes and sporting legends who have posed nude in the past, seemingly sending a message that she’s not the first to bare it all in the name of sports.

She shared images of sport stars like tennis champion Serena Williams, UFC fighter Ronda Rousey and professional basketballer Sue Bird who have posed naked before.

She also included photos of male sportsman who have stripped off in the past.

In an interview with Complex, Sweeney called the Just Sports campaign “a very simple and playful idea” aimed to “really bring the concept of ‘just sports’ to life”.

The US media outlet reported that Sweeney shot the revealing video while in Australia filming Netflix’s upcoming live-action Gundam film.

Some people have questioned how this almost-nude clip of Sweeney hasn’t been blocked by Instagram, with one person going as far as to call it “disgusting”.

But Sweeney said she was happy to “embrace a fun idea” and disrobe for the campaign.

“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,” she explained.