Sharon Stone Weighs in on Sydney Sweeney’s Novig Ad Firestorm, and Her Message Is Pointed: “We Can’t Denigrate Women’s Sports to Get Men’s Attention So They Can Gamble”
Sweeney is no stranger to ads that cause controversy, and her latest sports-focused campaign is proving to be no exception. The Novig ad controversy has now pulled in voices well beyond the usual celebrity gossip circles. Female athletes, sports bodies and fellow Hollywood stars are all part of the conversation.
Novig released its first national brand campaign on Sept. 9, announcing that Sweeney had joined the sports trading platform as a strategic partner and equity holder. The ad shows the actress posing naked while covering herself with footballs, basketballs and hockey pads. It didn’t take long for the clip to spread far beyond its intended audience.
Then came a reaction from someone who knows Sweeney’s work up close. Speaking exclusively to PEOPLE at Variety’s Power of Women: Los Angeles event on Sept. 23, Sharon Stone said Sweeney needs to own her choices in the campaign. The ‘Basic Instinct’ star added that it isn’t her place to judge, and that she would rather cheer on the women who have become champions in sports. Stone was also blunt about the stakes: “We can’t denigrate women’s sports to get men’s attention so they can gamble.”
Stone isn’t the first to speak up. Athletes including Amy Hunt and Gracie Kramer have publicly condemned the ad as harmful to women in sports. Their core complaint is that the campaign sexualizes women in sports and leans heavily into the male gaze.
The list of critics keeps growing. Olympic track cycling champion Sophie Capewell, Wales rugby international Lisa Neumann, Team GB rugby player Ellie Boatman and Australian water polo silver medallist Tilly Kearns have also spoken out, per The Athletic. The Australian Institute of Sport even posted a caption hinting at the row.
Sweeney’s own response has been indirect. She posted Instagram stories placing her Novig campaign beside ESPN Body Issue photoshoots of athletes posing without clothes. Those images featured stars such as Serena Williams, Ronda Rousey, Sue Bird, Megan Rapinoe, Rob Gronkowski and Jason Kelce.
This isn’t the first time Stone has commented on one of Sweeney’s ad campaigns. At Variety’s Power of Women event last October, Stone was on hand to present honors to Sweeney amid the fallout from the American Eagle “great jeans” campaign. Her message then was very different. “It’s okay to use what mama gave you,” Stone told Variety at the time.
She also shared a story about a late conservationist to back up her point. Stone recalled that Jane Goodall’s Life Magazine cover drew sniping from other scientists, and that Goodall shrugged it off because the attention helped her raise more money for research. The takeaway was clear: using your image for a bigger purpose is fair game. Whether the Novig campaign fits that logic is exactly what’s being debated.
The two women are also colleagues. Stone and Sweeney have been working together on ‘Euphoria’ Season 3, where Stone plays Patricia “Patty” Lance, a powerful Hollywood showrunner and studio executive. Days before the PEOPLE comments, Stone joked that she once tried to steer Sweeney’s ‘Euphoria’ character away from cam work, and that Sweeney’s new lingerie line proved it hadn’t stuck.
What makes Stone’s latest comments stand out is where she takes the discussion next. Rather than piling onto Sweeney, she points to her own experience with barriers in sports. In high school, Stone threatened to sue if she wasn’t allowed to try out for the boys’ golf team, because her school had no women’s sports teams.
That history helps explain why she frames the issue around opportunity rather than outrage. It’s a reminder that debates about how women are represented in sports are hardly new, even if the platforms have changed. A sports trading app now sits at the center of a very old argument.
There is still plenty of room for disagreement here. Some see the Novig ad as bold marketing, while others see it as a step backward for women in sports.
What do you think of the controversy surrounding Sydney Sweeney’s Novig sports ad?
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