Sydney Sweeney responds to Hollywood producer who said she 'can't act'

The Madame Web star has responded to online discourse about her body in a new Instagram post
Lisa McLoughlin 22 April 2024
The Weekender

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Sydney Sweeney has responded to criticism about her appearance days after a female Hollywood producer claimed that she’s “not pretty” and “can’t act”.

In her latest Instagram post, the 26-year-old actress expressed her feelings with a pointed message printed on her jumper.

Among several photos, the Anyone But You star posed in a grey jumper that features a cartoon girl skipping below the words: “Sorry for having great t**s”.

The post, which she captioned “good times and tan lines”, also saw her posing alongside her dog, dancing to a mariachi band and a slew of candid polaroid photos with her friends from her Mexican getaway.

Her social media post comes days after Carol Baum critiqued The White Lotus star while speaking with a New York Times film critic before a screening of Baum’s 1988 film Dead Ringers.

Baum described Sweeney as “an actress who everybody loves now” but added that “I don’t get [her]” after seeing Sweeney’s rom-com film Anyone But You, which she branded “unwatchable”.

The producer, whose films include Father Of The Bride and Buffy The Vampire Slayer, also claimed she asked a class she teaches at film school: “Explain this girl to me. She’s not pretty, she can’t act. Why is she so hot?”

In the wake of the comments, Sweeney responded via a representative, calling Baum’s words “shameful”.

The statement read: “How sad that a woman in the position to share her expertise and experience chooses instead to attack another woman.

“If that’s what she’s learned in her decades in the industry and feels is appropriate to teach to her students, that’s shameful.

“To unjustly disparage a fellow female producer speaks volumes about Ms Baum’s character.”

Sweeney, 26, produces her own films and is tipped to star in Marvel blockbuster Spider-Woman and a remake Jane Fonda’s 1968 sci-fi action movie Barbarella.

She also starred in the music video for The Rolling Stones single Angry released last year, travelling in a red convertible as it drove along Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.

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