Reading Time: 2 minutes
Even if you’ve never watched a single second of the show, you’ve probably heard about Sydney Sweeney’s OnlyFans storyline on Euphoria Season 3.
Sydney’s character, Cassie, is seen filming increasingly outrageous content as she builds her following and gains financial freedom.
One scene in particular — in which Sydney is seen wearing a diaper and acting like a baby — has received especially harsh criticism.
The scene has gained backlash not only from viewers who were caught off guard, but also from adult content creators who say it badly misrepresents their profession.
One such creator is Maitland Ward, the former mainstream actress who now makes her living in the adult industry.
“There’s all sorts of stuff that you can’t do,” Ward said in a recent interview with TMZ, adding:
“The whole child-baby thing is so disgusting … You just can’t go into that whole underage thing like that. I mean, you can do it to an extent if it’s very, very playful, like, you’re an adult being childlike or something. But just the way it was handled was so gross, and it’s just disgusting and vile.”
She further explained, “You don’t want pedophilia anywhere near pornography.”
Ward went on to allege that Euphoria “is making fun of OnlyFans creators” rather than “celebrating” them.
“It’s saying how weird and creepy they are,” she said. “There’s so many creators who are really working hard to build their brands every day, and this is really disingenuous.”
Ward went on to blast Euphoria, its writers, and even Sydney herself for denigrating sex workers:
“Sydney Sweeney’s portrayal of an OnlyFans creator is setting sex workers real individuals with lives, families, and jobs back by making a mockery not only of what they choose to do with their bodies and lives, but of them as human beings,” she said, adding:
“This show is treating sex work like a circus act, a freak show. And of course, they use the traditional blonde, boobie-bimbo stereotype who will do anything for money and a jolt of fame, including posing as a dog licking a bowl and serving up pedophilia fantasies, as the one who goes into sex work.
“Because, of course, you couldn’t go into sex work unless you were deranged on some level and without standards.This only reinforces the false and harmful stereotypes that sex workers have to fight against every day. It’s completely out of touch.”
And while Euphoria is only a TV show, and Cassie’s story is mainly played for laughs, Ward says these kinds of portrayals can have damaging real-world consequences:
“I know it’s ridiculous, but a lot of people already believe these things about sex workers, and this only reinforces those harmful stereotypes,” she said. “Sex work is treated like a joke — some odd sideshow that’s fun to use for laughs and clickbait. Hollywood does it again.”