Charley Hull responds to criticism of Sydney Sweeney
Charley Hull isn’t buying the internet controversy surrounding Sydney Sweeney’s new Novig sports betting commercial. In an exclusive interview, the LPGA standout went straight at the critics who argue the advertisement harms female athletes or regresses women’s sports. Hull defended Sweeney’s commercial appeal and business savvy, dismissing the online commentary as noise created over standard marketing. Watch the full clip as the golf star sets the record straight on brand promotion, sex appeal in advertising, and why the outrage crowd is making a “big hoo-hah out of absolutely nothing.”
The face (and body) of a betting site just won big on her own gamble.
Actress Sydney Sweeney, who bought a stake in the peer-to-peer sports trading company Novig, has watched its valuation jump from $500 million to $2 billion in a matter of months.
How much she actually invested in the company is unknown. How much she influenced the company’s growth seems undeniable. Her scantily-clad advertisement — in which she donned an array of sports attire that covered just enough to clear broadcast standards — sent Novig’s name ricocheting across social media in the middle of last month.
An ad from sports betting site Novig featuring actress Sydney Sweeney is displayed in Times Square in New York City on Sept. 16, 2026. (Getty Images)
SYDNEY SWEENEY LEAVES LITTLE TO THE IMAGINATION IN PROVOCATIVE NEW CAMPAIGN
Writers and athletes buried Sweeney with criticism — particularly in regard to her representation of women in sports. But the “Euphoria” star brushed all the hate off her shoulder pads and proved once again … that all Sweeney does is win.
This is yet another example of how activists and a significant portion of the media failed to represent the general population. Ava Stampa of the Rocky Mountain Collegian wrote a piece with the headline: “Sydney Sweeney is a disgrace to feminism, women’s sports.” Guardian sports columnist Jane McManus penned a similar piece with the headline reading “Sydney Sweeney’s prediction ad is cynical, unhealthy and reveals plenty about modern sports.” USA Today’s Nancy Armour, meanwhile, wrote that Novig running the ad was an attempt to “demean the sweat and sacrifice of women athletes?”
USA TODAY Sports Columnist Nancy Armour used a Sydney Sweeney ad, an AI joke and an arena rendering to claim sports still hate women. (IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect)
RIDICULOUS USA TODAY COLUMN PROVES THAT THE DEMAND FOR MISOGYNY IN SPORTS FAR EXCEEDS THE SUPPLY
Oh, come on.
Never mind that, for years, ESPN Magazine ran its annual “Body Issue,” which showed male and female athletes of all shapes and sizes posing nude with strategic modesty. And the idea that someone might see Sweeney’s ad and change their thoughts on women’s sports is about as absurd as a bigot seeing an “End Racism” slogan and having an epiphany.
It was an ad that used sex appeal to catch the eye of a mostly-male market — not a “kick in the face” to female athletes, as four-time Olympic swimming gold medalist Ariarne Titmus suggested.
Plus, isn’t Sweeney doing exactly what so much of the Left endorses these days? She’s a girl boss who bought equity in a company and took action to get herself paid. She’s embracing her sexuality and using it to further empower herself. The disdain liberal media outlets hurl at her isn’t because Sweeney defied their values. It’s because she’s a freakin’ smoke show.
SOPHIE CUNNINGHAM SAYS WHAT OTHER GASLIGHTING FEMALE ATHLETES WON’T ABOUT THE NAKED SYDNEY SWEENEY AD
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)
Exactly how much Sweeney’s ad contributed to Novig’s fourfold increase in valuation since February is impossible to know. But saying the spot added at least a few hundred million dollars to that valuation is hardly a wild guess. And this isn’t the first time Sydney sent a company’s stock price soaring. When American Eagle unveiled its equally controversial “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans” campaign in July 2025, its shares jumped 10 percent in a single day.
The contempt critics have for her isn’t rooted in principle. It’s rooted in jealousy. But that contempt doesn’t reflect the every man (or every woman).
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Sweeney does, in fact, have great genes. They’re on display from head to toe and between the ears. She may not be the athlete she poses as in her commercial — but she does know how to get a victory.