What To Know
- Sydney Sweeney is facing backlash for starring in a nude ad for sports prediction startup Novig.
- The Euphoria actress holds an equity stake in the company and is involved in creative decisions.
- Sweeney’s net worth is bolstered by high-profile acting roles and brand partnerships.
Sydney Sweeney is back in the headlines for another controversial commercial, but the Euphoria actress is unlikely to lose any sleep given her potential earnings from the racy ad.
The commercial is for the sports prediction market Novig and features Sweeney posing nude and using sports equipment to cover parts of her naked body. “Novig is just sports… No betting on wars or deaths and no politics. Just you, your takes, and sports,” she says in the ad.
Some critics slammed the commercial as “inappropriate,” “disgusting,” and “oversexualizing” women in sports. But as far as Novig is concerned, the ad did exactly what it was meant to do: get people talking about the upstart company.
“Sydney is great at captivating audiences and being the center of attention. In some sense, it forces us into the national discourse,” Novig founder and CEO Jacob Fortinsky told Front Office Sports.
Fortinsky also revealed that Sweeney approached him about working together, as she was “interested in some kind of equity partnership.” This means The Housemaid star has an ownership stake in the company, though Fortinsky didn’t share percentages or how much she was paid to star in the commercial.
“We’re very excited to have her on the cap table,” he added, noting how the ad’s strong engagement could boost Novig’s valuation, meaning bigger financial gains for Sweeney and other investors.
The startup, which launched last month, was valued at $500 million back in February, according to Fortune. Two of the Sweeney Novig commercials currently have over 1.3 million views each on YouTube and over 2 million likes on the actress’ own Instagram page.
“Because I’ve been a part of the creative conversations from the very beginning, I had built an amazing relationship with everyone involved, and I was really excited to get to set,” Sweeney told Complex.
She continued, “I’ve always believed that the best partnerships are the ones where everyone’s getting to collaborate. I don’t like to just put my face on something. I really want to be able to get into the weeds of it with an amazing team. And I got to meet the Novig team. Jacob’s incredible, and I believed in him as a founder.”
The ad’s popularity and Sweeney’s equity stake could add significantly to her net worth, which Celebrity Net Worth currently estimates at $50 million. This comes from a run of high-profile roles in film and television, including the HBO hit Euphoria, which saw Sweeney’s earnings rise from $25,000 per episode during the first season to $800,000 per episode in the most recent third season.
According to Hello!, Sweeney also took home huge paychecks from her Hollywood movies, including $750,000 for Madame Web, $2 million for Anyone But You, and $7.5 million for The Housemaid.
She’s also done several brand deals, including the controversial American Eagle jeans campaign, as well as Ford Motor Company, Dr. Squatch, Baskin-Robbins, and Crocs. Sweeney also founded her own size-inclusive lingerie brand, SYRN Lingerie.
