Megyn Kelly blasts critics and defends Sydney Sweeney's nude commercial in latest move
Megyn Kelly has blasted the backlash surrounding Sydney Sweeney’s latest controversial commercial, after the actress appeared nude in an advert for sports prediction market Novig.
The 29-year-old Euphoria star features in the company’s ‘Just Sports’ campaign, using her hair and various pieces of sporting equipment to cover herself whilst promoting the platform.
The campaign quickly divided opinion, with a number of female athletes arguing that it sexualised women in sport at a time when competitors have fought to be recognised for their talent rather than appearance.
British sprinter Amy Hunt was among those to respond, saying after competing at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship: “Sydney Sweeney, this is what women’s sport looks like! : 21.4. Muscles. Hard work, blood, sweat, tears. This is a beautiful evening.”
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However, Kelly has now firmly come to Sweeney’s defence, whilst claiming there is another reason behind some of the criticism aimed at the actress.
Speaking on The Megyn Kelly Show, reported on by the New York Post, Kelly said: “I don’t get it.”
She continued: “Since the dawn of time, we’ve been selling sports to men by using sexy women in ads that air during the sporting events, in the bars where they watch the sporting events, in products around the sporting events.”
Kelly then suggested Sweeney’s reported voter registration had contributed to the reaction.
She said: “Men tend to like sports and beer and sexy women, and this is not particularly controversial — until now, until this year, until Sydney Sweeney is the woman, I guess, who is a registered Republican and did the controversial jeans ad, so she must be punished.”
Sweeney’s Florida voter registration has previously been reported as Republican, dating back to June 2024, although she has not publicly endorsed Donald Trump or another political candidate.
Kelly also rejected the suggestion that the Novig advert was attempting to present Sweeney as representative of female athletes.
She said: “She never purported to be a woman in sports…She never said this is what a woman in sports looks like.
“She just said, ‘Sports. Sports. This is sports’.”
American gymnast Gracie Kramer had previously responded to the campaign by writing: “Idk what Sydney Sweeney was doing, but this is what a woman in sport looks like.”
Australian swimmer Ariarne Titmus also criticised the advert, writing: “How do we live in a world where monetising a woman’s body and sexualising women’s sport is still a thing?”
However, Kelly went even further in defending Sweeney’s decision to appear nude.
Noted by TV Insider, Kelly said: “If I looked like that, I’d be doing nude ads too.”
She later returned to her argument about the criticism being politically motivated, saying: “When you have that person emerge in 2026, almost 2027, America, she has to be shamed.”
“Why again? Because she’s a Republican.”
Sweeney has not directly addressed Kelly’s comments, but previously appeared to hit back at criticism of the campaign by sharing examples of male and female sports stars who have posed nude for professional shoots.
Topics: Sydney Sweeney, Entertainment, Celebrity
Ben Williams