Watch: ‘Euphoria’ Creator Sam Levinson Defends Sydney Sweeney’s OnlyFans Storyline After Backlash
Kayla Jade is feeling less than euphoric about Euphoria.
The influencer and sex worker shared her thoughts on Sydney Sweeney’s OnlyFans arc on season three of the HBO series, which sees Sweeney’s character Cassie use the platform to help pay off debts for husband Nate (Jacob Elordi).
“I would never understand the love hate relationship that people have towards SW [sex work] on shows like Euphoria,” Jade began in a recent TikTok. “Like, it’s great having them represented in TV when they’re shown as a real person who just happens to be a worker.”
However, the Call Girl Confidential author took issue with Euphoria’s depiction of Cassie on the show, adding, “When you’re showing them have zero boundaries and will do anything for a bit of money, it just reinforces those negative views towards SW.”
In one episode, Sweeney’s character was seen dressed up like a dog for a photoshoot, following that up with another shoot wearing a see-through babydoll dress and sucking on a pacifier. But as Jade noted, she and other sex workers would never “encourage that type of behavior.”
“The vast majority would tell that guy to f off and probably report him,” the TikToker explained. “If anything, it’s just made us more aware, and we can clock a creep pretty quickly.”
Plus, building a business as a sex worker like Jade has done is no easyfeat, with her saying there were times she had to rebuild her profiles after they were taken down.
Patrick Wymore/HBO
“But these big production companies can profit off the most toxic, exploitative version of it, with none of the risks that real life SWs have to deal with,” she continued. “It just sucks that that show is kind of obsessed with S workers, but only in a way that dehumanizes them.”
And Jade wasn’t alone in her criticism of the series: OnlyFans creator Sydney Leathers also took issue with Cassie’s storyline—particularly her dressing up as a baby.
“There’s just a lot that’s ridiculous and cartoonish about it,” she told Varietyin an interview published May 10. “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.”
Eddy Chen/HBO
As for Sweeney, while the 28-year-old hasn’t addressed the criticism of her character, she has appreciatedsome of the acting challenges she’s gotten to take on while playing Cassie, most recently as “Cassie-zilla.” During a particularly explicit scene on the May 10 episode, Sweeney’s character became a giant, Godzilla-sized woman, stomping through a version of Los Angeles made through miniatures.
“The ‘Cassie-zilla’ sequence was probably the coolest thing I’ve done,” Sweeney said in a behind-the-scenes video shared to X May 12. “The details were unbelievable. There were trees and cars and the buildings were my size.”
While Sweeney might have a fictional OnlyFans account as Cassie, keep reading to see which stars have joined the platform in real life.
Cindy Ord/WireImage
Amanda Bynes
Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic
Can Nguyen/Shutterstock
Emma McIntyre/Getty Images
Gilbert Flores/Variety/REX/Shutterstock
Prince Williams/WireImage
Rodin Eckenroth/WireImage
Gilbert Flores/WWD via Getty Images
Arthur Mola/Invision/AP/Shutterstock
Mike Marsland/ WireImage
Broadimage/Shutterstock
Jean Baptiste Lacroix/Getty Images
Charles Sykes/Bravo
John Nacion/Variety via Getty Images
Andrew H. Walker/Shutterstock
Vivien Killilea/Getty Images
John Sciulli/Getty Images for boohooMAN
For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App
