Longtime Producer Says Sydney Sweeney Is 'Not Pretty' And 'Can't Act'

A longtime Hollywood producer said that emerging superstar Sydney Sweeney is not pretty and cant act, in a hot take quickly making the media rounds. 

Carol Baum, an industry veteran whose credits include  the films Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Father of the Bride, issued her opinion last week after a screening of the 1988 movie Dead Ringers, the Daily Mail reported Tuesday.

A rep for Sweeney hit back hard Wednesday.

How sad that a woman in the position to share her expertise and experience chooses instead to attack another woman, the rep said in a statement to HuffPost. If thats what shes learned in her decades in the industry and feels is appropriate to teach to her students, thats shameful.

Sweeney received Emmy nominations for Euphoria and The White Lotus and recently starred in the movies Immaculate and Madame Web. She also guest-hosted Saturday Night Live and starred in a Rolling Stones music video that highlighted her curvaceous figure.

Baums controversial assessment of the young actor was sparked by Sweeneys appearance in the recent rom-com Anyone but You. 

Theres an actress who everybody loves now - Sydney Sweeney, Baum reportedly said Thursday at the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, New York. I dont get Sydney Sweeney.

She told the audience and moderator Janet Maslin, a longtime New York Times critic, that the film was unwatchable. Baum explained that Sweeneys name had come up in a course she teaches at the USC School of Cinematic Arts , based in Los Angeles.

I said to my class, Explain this girl to me. Shes not pretty, she cant act. Why is she so hot? Baum recalled.

Maslin, the board director at the film center, appeared to confirm Baums takedown that included the producers blunt analysis of Anyone but You.

It IS unwatchable, Maslin wrote on X. 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.

According to the Daily Mail, the producer also recalled that someone in her class had asked whether shed put Sweeney in a movie if doing so would get it greenlighted.

Who walks away from a green light? Baum said she answered. Nobody I know. Your job is to get the movie made.

HuffPost did not immediately hear back from Baum in a request for comment.

This story has been updated with reaction from one of Sydney Sweeneys representatives.