Sydney Sweeney has called out “fake” female empowerment in the American film industry.
The 27-year-old star of Euphoria and Anyone But You criticised the hypocrisy of people publicly espousing feminist values, while privately “trying to bash and discredit” younger peers.
Speaking about the industry at large, Sweeney said that the notion of “women empowering other women” was a “front” for more insidious behaviours.
“It’s very disheartening to see women tear other women down,” Sweeney told Vanity Fair. “Especially when women who are successful in other avenues of their industry see younger talent working really hard – hoping to achieve whatever dreams that they may have – and then trying to bash and discredit any work that they’ve done.”
“This entire industry, all people say is ‘Women empowering other women.’ None of it’s happening. All of it is fake and a front for all the other s*** that they say behind everyone’s back.”
Sweeney, who rose to fame playing high school student Cassie Howard on the transgressive HBO drama series Euphoria, said that it was a “generation problem to believe only one woman can be at the top” and that there were “many studies and different opinions” on the reasons for it.
“There’s one woman who can get the man. There’s one woman who can be, I don’t know, anything.
“So then all the others feel like they have to fight each other or take that one woman down instead of being like, Let’s all lift each other up. I’m still trying to figure it out. I’m just trying my best over here. Why am I getting attacked?”
Earlier this year, Sweeney was publicly criticised by producer Carol Baum, the producer of films such as Dead Ringers, Father of the Bride and the original 1992 film version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Baum said at an event that she didn’t “get” Sweeney, stating that she was “not pretty” and “can’t act”.
The Madame Web star subsequently responded to the quotes in a statement. “How sad that a woman in the position to share her expertise and experience chooses instead to attack another woman,” she said.
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“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.”
