Euphoria creator speaks out after Sydney Sweeney's NSFW season 3 scenes slammed as 'humiliating'

While the backlash continues over Sydney Sweeney's recent Euphoria scenes, creator Sam Levinson has been quick to praise the actress, calling her 'brilliant'.

Season three of the show sees Sweeney's character, Cassie, enter the world of OnlyFans, but say the NSFW scenes went 'too far'.

Titled America My Dream, the second episode of what is believed to be the final instalment of Euphoria sees the continuation of Sweeney's character, Cassie, and her OnlyFans storyline - with Maddy (Alexa Demie) coming onboard to help manage her career.

In the episode, Cassie poses for the adult content, with one shot showing ice cream dropping down the actor's nude chest.

She can also be seen wearing a see-through US flag, meanwhile, another scene shows Sweeney wearing a baby-inspired outfit and sucking on a dummy while her legs are in the air.

Sam Levinson was quick to praise Sweeney (Monica Schipper/Getty Images)

One person penned on X: "Honestly, Euphoria has always pushed boundaries, but it does feel like this season is going a bit too far for shock value. I get that it’s trying to portray dark and uncomfortable themes, but there’s a fine line between storytelling and unnecessary degradation."

"I’m glad everyone in Euphoria also thinks Cassie dressing as an adult baby is f**king weird," a second added.

Sam Levinson's take on Sydney Sweeney's X-rated Euphoria scenes

As the backlash continues, Levinson has spoken about Sweeney's talent at a Q&A for The Hollywood Reporter’s Directors In Focus event, calling her 'brilliant'.

“What’s interesting is if you push it a little bit, she becomes brilliant," he said.

"You just do a few more takes, and she can reach these levels that are very honest emotionally, but also deeply funny.

“She’s able to anchor the scene with this kind of madness and chaos going on around her.”

Levinson also gushed about Zendaya, adding: “What’s so spectacular about Zendaya as an actor is the physicality that she has, and I think it goes back to her Disney training, that she’s able to move with such humour and tell a story.”

'The moment a woman does it, it degrades them'

In 2022, Sweeney called out the double standard around nude scenes, telling Cosmopolitan: "There are hour-long compilations of world-famous male actors with nude scenes who win Oscars and get praised for that work.

Sydney Sweeney's baby scene had already caused outrage (HBO)

"But the moment a woman does it, it degrades them.”

The following year, Sweeney also reveals that fans had been trolling her online with screenshots of Cassie's nude scenes.

She told The Sun: "It got to the point where they were tagging my family. My cousins don’t need that. It’s completely disgusting and unfair.

“You have a character that goes through the scrutiny of being a sexualised person at school and then an audience that does the same thing."