Sydney Sweeney's recent Saturday Night Live appearance sparked a lot of discussion online. Besides poking fun at rumors that she had had an affair with her "Anyone But You" co-star, Glen Powell, the 26-year-old actress was featured in several sketches that focused on her looks.
For instance, she dressed up as a Hooters hostess who received many tips from male customers.
In a separate moment of the show, Sydney said, "Weirdly, a lot of my fans are men," to which Kacey Musgraves replied, "Hmmm, I wonder why."
Many viewers labeled the jokes as "misogynistic," criticizing the writers for creating material that excessively focused on her appearance.
Image credits: Page Six
Sydney has previously talked at length about her physical appearance and the difficulties of being constantly sexualized throughout her life.
"I have big boobs, I'm blonde, and that's all I have," she told the Sun last year while discussing how she wasn't being taken seriously as an actress because she was perceived merely as a "sex icon."
"I had boobs before other girls, and I felt ostracized for it," she shared.
The star added that people often share screenshots of her nude scenes in "Euphoria," posting them online and tagging her family members.
"You have a character that goes through the scrutiny of being a sexualized person at school, and then an audience that does the same thing.
"I think it's ridiculous. I'm an artist; I play characters. It makes me want to play characters that piss people off more."
"It's this weird relationship that people have with me that I have no control or say over," the actress said
Image credits: Saturday Night Live
Image credits: CinematicWonders
Now, the star has opened up again about how her body is perceived by the public in an interview with Variety.
When asked about the constant online discourse centered on her appearance, she said, "I see it, and I just can't allow myself to have a reaction. I don't know how to explain it—I'm still trying to figure it out myself."
"People feel connected and free to be able to speak about me in whatever way they want because they believe that I've signed my life away.
"That I'm not on a human level anymore because I'm an actor.
"That these characters are for everybody else, but then me as Sydney is not for me anymore.
"It's this weird relationship that people have with me that I have no control or say over."
Sydney's words come after her SNL appearance, which featured many sketches centered around her looks
Image credits: Saturday Night Live
After Sydney's comments, people took to social media to express support for the actress.
"She's not wrong. She is a fine actress, and discourse online is only about her chest area, and they constantly sexualize her. It gets really gross with the stuff I've seen," a fan wrote.
"It sucks because she genuinely is a great actress with a lot of skill in both dialogue and conveying emotion. She can really disappear in a character and make them three-dimensional people," another person commented.
A third social media user said, "She is right. People should view her work as an actress. Keeps getting blurred."
"I find this disturbing about people. I see it in comments all the time about celebrities and famous artists, whether they're musicians, actors, writers, etc," a separate user added.
"People are so unkind the way they speak of celebrities when they [know] nothing about them personally."
Another person stressed that this issue extends throughout the entire entertainment industry.
"I don't think it's wrong to talk about the beauty or sensuality of a woman or man, but when people only see that superficial characteristic, the individual becomes an object," they said. "This mistake has been made in every field of entertainment."
"It's really disgusting the way people speak about celebrities on social media," someone commented
