Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham rebranded her podcast from Show Me Something to No Hesitation and swapped West Wilson for Drew Hanlen as her co-host.
“There is no really good WNBA [or] NBA podcasts — really, WNBA — that strictly talk about basketball and, like, all the great things that it has in the WNBA,” Cunningham told Colin Cowherd, her new boss at The Volume, last week. “And so I was like, why are we not talking more like this?”
No Hesitation with Sophie Cunningham & Drew Hanlen premiered Thursday. They did spend the majority of the 50-minute episode breaking down nitty-gritty basketball stuff, such as Team USA capturing gold at the FIBA Women’s World Cup and Sonia Citron’s film.
But Cunningham couldn’t help but deliver a hot take on Sydney Sweeney’s controversial, provocative ad for Novig, a sports prediction market. In it, Sweeney is bare-naked while trying different sports and repeating the phrase, “Just sports.”
“I have so many takes,” Cunningham said. “First of all, like, does she even gamble on sports? Like, it’s just so inauthentic. You know what I mean? Am I surprised of how she represented the brand? No. That’s what she’s made her whole career off — and, hey, don’t get me wrong. I like her. Everyone knows she is beautiful; she is hot. She clearly has my chest.”
“I really like her,” Cunningham continued. “You know what? She sticks to her guns, and she does her thing. She’s her. So, props to her. Do I like it, that particular ad? Not really. I think it’s like, I mean, what are we doing? But, again, I’m not surprised. That’s what she’s known for. So, she’s gonna do that. She’s making her money. Go do your thing, sis.”
Hanlen interjected to note that Sweeney is “just running her playbook,” citing her controversial American Eagle ad from last year.
“The crazy thing is, all the people that were outraged were women, and the ad was clearly targeting men,” Hanlen said, adding that Novig “knew what they were doing” to generate maximum reach.
“But why are girls mad?” Cunningham said. “That is literally what she does. Why is anyone mad? It is a gambling ad. Men, sports, pretty much naked women. Like, of course, that’s gonna draw attention. Again, do I agree with it? Morally, I think it’s kind of weird, but to each their own. Go do your thing, sis.”
“But at the end of the day, I’m really loving all these girls who are powerful, strong, showing young girls what it looks like to actually be an athlete,” Cunningham added. “I don’t think the ad was coming for women in sport.”
Cunningham segued into a broader point about beauty standards and stereotypes around women’s bodies.
“I think it has been so cool to see girls who — you know what? They’re muscly, their thighs touch, they have broad shoulders,” Cunningham said, noting her struggle with being so tall growing up. “They might be taller than the average girl and probably the average boy. […] You’ve got to embrace your power.”
Several women in sport heavily criticized Sweeney, including professional athletes.
“I can’t describe how infuriated I feel when I watch this,” four-time Olympic swimming gold medalist Ariarne Titmus said, per the Associated Press. “How do we live in a world where monetizing a woman’s body and sexualizing women’s sport is still a thing?”
Sweeney said that the “Just Sports” campaign was meant to “cut through the noise and put the focus entirely on sports” in Novig’s official release. Last Sunday, Sweeney appeared to respond to the backlash by posting several old ESPN “The Body Issue” covers featuring nude athletes to her Instagram Story.
About Megan Armstrong
Since first getting published as a student by the Kansas City Star in 2013, Megan Armstrong has gone wherever curiosity and stories have taken her, specializing in sports, media, music, and culture coverage. She also has an extensive background in interviewing and profiling public figures. Her work has appeared in Billboard, Boardroom, Bleacher Report, Esquire, GQ, GRAMMY.com, NYLON, Newsweek, Teen Vogue, The Hollywood Reporter, UPROXX, and elsewhere.