Real OnlyFans Stars Hate Sydney Sweeney Caricature in Euphoria
“There are a lot of ridiculous and caricatured things in there…”
The final season of Euphoria didn’t just shock fans. It also triggered the anger of many OnlyFans creators, furious at the way Sam Levinson’s series caricatures their profession through the character of Cassie, played by Sydney Sweeney.
In this season, Cassie opens an OnlyFans account to fund her marriage to Nate. Very quickly, the young woman found herself producing deliberately provocative and absurd content: disguised as a dog with a leash and ears, then as a baby in sexualized scenes. And it is precisely this representation that makes real content creators jump.
“There’s a lot of ridiculous and cartoonish stuff in there,” explains porn star Sydney Leathers, who has been on OnlyFans since 2017 (quoted by Variety). “A lot of content shown in the series is completely prohibited on the platform. The crazy thing where she is disguised as a baby, for example, would never pass.”
In fact, OnlyFans officially prohibits any content related to “age-play” involving real or simulated minors. A point that several sex workers criticize the series for completely ignoring. Same anger on the side of Maitland Ward, former actress of the sitcom Incorrigible Cory who has become one of the biggest stars of OnlyFans. For her, Euphoria reinforces already extremely heavy stereotypes about sex workers.
“In today’s climate, having them dress up Sydney Sweeney as a baby to produce pornographic content is deeply disturbing,” she said. “It feeds the idea that sex workers have no morals and will do anything for money. And Hollywood turns that into a joke. It doesn’t make me laugh.”
For his part, Sam Levinson fully assumes the satirical approach of these scenes. The creator of the series explains that he wanted to play on unease and the absurd.
“The gag was precisely to break the illusion,” he told The Hollywood Reporter, also explaining that the scenes were lit only with the ring lights used by the content creators to accentuate the artificial and depressing side.
But these explanations have not convinced anyone in the adult content industry.
“Above all, it shows that this plot is never taken seriously,” replies Maitland Ward. “It just seems like fantasies written by guys in a writers’ room. Turning a sexy blonde with a big chest into a dog and then into a baby… it’s weird, but unfortunately very Hollywood.”
Some creators, however, recognize that the series sometimes hits the right note, notably when it shows Cassie trying to go viral on social networks by attending influencers and high-profile parties: “That part was rather credible,” recognizes creator Alix Lynx. “But the show makes it seem like you just need to be sexy and do crazy things to get rich instantly. In reality, building a community takes a lot of time.”
In the end, many criticize Euphoria above all for continuing to show sex workers in a miserable, sordid or grotesque light: “Hollywood almost always represents us in a humiliating way,” concludes Sydney Leathers. “It’s either absurd or depressing, but rarely realistic.”
Season 3 of Euphoria continues every Monday in France on HBO Max.
