"It's called... acting": Sydney Sweeney responds to Euphoria criticism

Sydney Sweeney took to Instagram this week to respond to a longstanding criticism directed towards her performance in Euphoria Season 3. The third season concluded its eight-episode run this week as the finale, which is also the show's last episode, aired on HBO this Sunday. Sweeney has been criticized for the perceived lack of range for the past few years.

This Sunday, the actress responded to this repeated criticism with a clapback on her Instagram account after the final episode was released on HBO. Sydney Sweeney posted photographs of herself and her co-stars on the set of this season. The caption to this post is supposedly a clap back to the criticism, which simply reads:

"It’s called… acting"

The criticism against Sydney Sweeney explained

Criticism against Sweeney has been building for a while, even before the controversies. While she was initially praised for performance in shows like Sharp Objects, since Euphoria, many have noticed that she is playing similar characters. Apart from that, many criticized her supposed "blank-stare" performances in back-to-back box-office flops like Christy, Eden, Echo Valley, and Madame Web.

However, a lot of this criticism might also be due to her supposed political views, which caused many people to stop supporting her. The 2025 American Eagle commercial marks a turning point in Sydney Sweeney's career. The commercial was criticized for promoting racism. American Eagle released a statement last August assuring that the ad:

“Is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans. Her story. We’ll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone.”

Sydney Sweeney herself also echoed the company's statement that the campaign was just about jeans and nothing more. Adding fuel to the fire was the GQ interview last November, where Sweeney refused to address her political opinions or her growing support from conservatives.

The trend continued with Euphoria Season 3:

That criticism continued this year as Euphoria Season 3 premiered this April. The third season follows Rue and other characters when they have graduated high school, meaning they are all adults. Sydney Sweeney's Cassie is now an OnlyFans (OF) creator. Several real-life OF creators called out this season's questionable portrayal of s*x work and OF models.

OF creator Sydney Leathers famously criticized the Cassie storyline in an interview with Variety, saying:

“There’s just a lot that’s ridiculous and cartoonish about it. There’s so much that they have her doing that is not even allowed on OnlyFans, and that alone is infuriating: the age-play stuff where she’s dressed as a baby in a diaper, for example. Credit card processors have very strict rules that you have to abide by, and the rules are getting stricter all the time.”

Another creator on the same platform, Maitland Ward, who also appeared in White Chicks and Boy Meets World, also criticized the makers for having Cassie dress up in outfits that many have even called p**datory. Calling the portrayal troubling, Ward said that it:

"Serves to perpetuate stereotypes that s*x workers have no moral compass and that they will do anything for money. And there’s always this untrue stigma that somehow s*x work is synonymous with s*x trafficking and abuse. And they just said, let’s make a joke of it. That is so funny. I’m not laughing.”

Euphoria creator Sam Levinson responded to these criticisms on a The Hollywood Reporter interview:

“What we wanted to always find is the other layer of absurdity that we’re able to tie into it so that we’re not too inside of her fantasy or illusion — the gag is to jump out, to break the wall.”

As the Euphoria Season 3 finale aired on HBO this week, Cassie's storyline as an OF model will continue to be discussed as one of the more divisive aspects of the series, played by an equally controversial actress. As for the supposed clapback, it is understandable as most of the criticism towards the actress seems to be too harsh on the surface.

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Do you think that the Sydney Sweeney criticism is warranted? Let us know.

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