Sydney Sweeney: Actress calls producer shameful over comments on looks and acting

Euphoria and The White Lotus star Sydney Sweeney has hit back at comments from Hollywood producer Carol Baum, who said of the actress, "She's not pretty, she can't act. Why is she so hot?"

Sweeney, who was Emmy-nominated for both shows in 2022, called the comments "shameful".

The 26-year-old added that she felt "unjustly disparaged".

Baum, who produced films including Dead Ringers and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, spoke after a film screening.

Sweeney's representative gave Variety this statement, in response to Baum: "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."

Baum had attended at an audience event where Dead Ringers was shown, and she spoke there to New York Times film critic Janet Maslin.

Baum's full quotes, reported in Variety, were: "There's an actress who everybody loves now: Sydney Sweeney. I don't get Sydney Sweeney. I was watching on the plane Sydney Sweeney's movie [Anyone but You] because I wanted to watch it.

"I wanted to know who she is and why everybody's talking about her. I watched this unwatchable movie - sorry to people who love this… romantic comedy where they hate each other."

Baum, who also teaches at the University of Southern California, added: "I said to my class, 'Explain this girl to me. She's not pretty, she can't act. Why is she so hot?'

"Nobody had an answer. But then the question was asked, 'Well, if you could get your movie made because she was in it, would you do it?'…

"That's a very hard question to answer because we all want to get the movie made, and who walks away from a green light? Nobody I know. Your job is to get the movie made."

The BBC has contacted Carol Baum for comment.

Maslin posted on X afterwards, in response to a story about Baum's comments, by referencing the romantic comedy film Anyone But You, which took £218m (£175m) at the worldwide box office.

"It IS unwatchable. Carol Baum said this after we screened Dead Ringers at the Jacob Burns Film Center and she mentioned having seen Anyone But You on a plane," she said.

Sweeney recently starred in and produced horror film Immaculate.

She also starred in the Netflix film Reality, based on the transcript of the FBI interrogation of Reality Winner, who was jailed in 2018 for leaking classified documents to the media.