Euphoria fans sickened over ‘vulgar’ scene of Sydney Sweeney dressed as a baby

Outraged Euphoria fans have hit out at one ‘sick’ and ‘vulgar’ scene featuring Sydney Sweeney in the third season.

Since its debut on HBO in 2019, the teen drama, written by Sam Levinson, 41, has helped to catapult its stars to global fame, with cast members including Zendaya, Jacob Elordi, Hunter Schafer, Alexa Demie, and more.

While the first outing was widely praised, particularly for Zendaya’s portrayal of Rue Bennett, a drug addict struggling to stay sober while navigating new relationships after rehab, the show has come under fire since.

Most notably, it’s been criticised for excessive nudity, substance abuse, and self-harm and faced backlash for ‘provocative’ storylines for the other main characters, such as Jules (Schafer), who is transgender and was praised for her revolutionary casting at a time when trans TV characters were rare.

Ahead of season 3’s release this weekend, fans took to social media to react to new teaser footage, which offered a glimpse at the chaos set to unfold in the final eight episodes.

Many, however, were shocked by one scene in particular, which involves 28-year-old Sweeney’s character, Cassie, dressed like a baby.

The short clip shows her on a couch with her legs spread, wearing her hair in pigtails, with a dummy in her mouth, and showing her breasts in a sheer top.

Appearing to be shooting explicit content, Cassie, now a bored California housewife-to-be engaged to young developer Nate (Elordi), has begun dabbling in OnlyFans work to make extra money for her lavish wedding.

She tells friend Maddy (Demie) that ‘if more people knew me, I would be huge.’

It’s safe to say the first-look trailer sparked fury online, with viewers slamming the show’s creators for ‘crossing a line’, ‘sexualising children’, and ‘degrading’ Sweeney. Many also called for a mass boycott.

On X, @miatravls raged: ‘there’s a line and sam levinson has severely crossed it’, while @jvmnsk wrote: ‘this is actually disgusting’.

Others called the scene a ‘humiliation ritual’ and demanded to ‘pull the plug on the series immediately’.

‘I don’t understand how euphoria went from the beautiful masterpiece that was s1 to cassie being dressed as a baby doing OF and the show being set in a desert… sam levinson you will pay for ur sins’, tweeted @celestialxari.

@UnaTalPadawan added: ‘Can we talk, please, about the fact that not everything that makes us uncomfortable is automatically “profound art”? What we see in Euphoria crosses a pretty questionable ethical line. The aesthetic that mixes childish elements with sexualisation isn’t new, but that doesn’t make it any less disturbing.’

‘I was gonna give this season of Euphoria a chance, but adding age play to satisfy the pedophilic fetish of some people seems way too sick and disgusting to me,’ said @zephyrxnthes. ‘I can’t believe someone wrote this script, that it got accepted, that the actresses ARE OKAY WITH IT, and that HBO thinks it’s a good idea to approve its filming and airing.’

Indeed, Sweeney has also been strongly condemned for ‘agreeing’ to the scene. @jeelordi said it is ‘weird as f**k’ that she didn’t say no, while @maliksloss called it ’embarrassing’.

This isn’t the first time the Anyone But You actress has been involved in very explicit scenes in Euphoria. Previously, fans hit out at another ‘filthy’ moment in which Cassie cosplays as a puppy.

Sitting atop a doghouse, she shakes her tail, with Elordi’s Nate deadpanning: ‘I work all day. My bride-to-be is spreadeagled on the internet.’

In a later scene, still in her dog costume, Cassie is sprawled on a mattress, being filmed. As her fiancé walks in, she replies sheepishly: ‘I was just making content.’

Sweeney, in the past, has claimed to have refused to film certain scenes, given that the characters were high schoolers.

‘I don’t think as many people took me seriously in Euphoria because I took my shirt off,’ Sweeney told Cosmopolitan in 2022.

Later that year, she spoke to the Independent about moments written for Cassie to be topless: ‘I would tell Sam, “I don’t really think that’s necessary here.” He was like, “OK, we don’t need it”.’

Other incidents that have generated backlash for Euphoria over the years have included Eric Dane’s character, Cal, who is Nate’s father, frequently hooking up with young men and trans minors in motels, recording the one-night stands via hidden cameras, ultimately leading to his arrest.

Additionally, the show has been slammed for youngest character Ashtray’s brutal acts of violence and casual teen drug use in season 2, which some argued ‘glamorised’ the issue.

But the controversy hasn’t ended on-screen, as, behind the scenes, leads Zendaya and Sweeney are thought to be feuding over opposing political views, and there’s thought to have been frustration from Zendaya, 29, over the four-year gap between the first two seasons due to Levinson spending more time on other projects.

And, after speculation of a ‘toxic work environment’, HBO was forced to issue a statement in 2022. It read: ‘The well-being of cast and crew on our productions is always a top priority. The production was in full compliance with all safety guidelines and guild protocols.’

Finally, most recently, musician Labrinth put the show on blast, declaring ‘f**k Euphoria’ in since-deleted social media posts, but claiming in another that he was ‘treated like s**t’. Ultimately, after curating the soundtrack for seasons 1 and 2, his music will not feature in the final season.

It’s currently unclear what caused the rift, leading to Hans Zimmer supplying the music instead, but Levinson still praised him in a new interview with Rolling Stone: ‘He’s an incredible collaborator and someone who really built the foundation of the sound of Euphoria.’

Despite all of that, Euphoria has remained keen to push boundaries and hopeful of igniting conversations.

Speaking in the past, Levinson said he wanted to ‘open up a dialogue’ due to the ‘disconnect between parents and teenagers’.

The programme, which has reportedly been censored for sexual or violent content in countries like Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore, also displays viewer warnings and signposts mental health support resources in each episode.

Season 3 of Euphoria premieres April 13 at 2am on Sky, NowTV, and HBO Max.

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