Last week, film producer Carol Baum lashed out at Sydney Sweeney, calling her “not pretty” and saying “she can’t act.”
On Wednesday, the “Anyone but You” actress and producer replied with a rebuttal of her own. In a statement shared with TheWrap, a representative for the star commented, “How sad that a woman in the position to share her expertise and experience chooses instead to attack another woman.”
“If that’s what she’s learned in her decades in the industry and feels is appropriate to teach to her students, that’s shameful,” the statement continued. “To unjustly disparage a fellow female producer speaks volumes about Ms. Baum’s character.”
Baum, who is also an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California, made the comments during a conversation with New York Times film critic Janet Maslin. The teacher said, “There’s an actress who everybody loves now: Sydney Sweeney. I don’t get Sydney Sweeney. I was watching on the plane Sydney Sweeney’s movie [‘Anyone but You’] because I wanted to watch it. I wanted to know who she is and why everybody’s talking about her.”
“I watched this unwatchable movie — sorry to people who love this … romantic comedy where they hate each other,” Baum added.
“I said to my class, ‘Explain this girl to me. She’s not pretty, she can’t act. Why is she so hot?’ Nobody had an answer,” she continued. “But then the question was asked, ‘Well, if you could get your movie made because she was in it, would you do it?’ … That’s a very hard question to answer because we all want to get the movie made and who walks away from a green light? Nobody I know. Your job is to get the movie made.”
TMZ then reported on Wednesday that Baum had expressed regret over the entire incident concerning the “Euphoria” and “The White Lotus” actress.
Sweeney most recently starred in the films “Immaculate” and “Madame Web.” Though the latter was largely panned by critics and audiences, Sweeney joined the cast as a “strategic business decision.”
“To me, that film was a building block, it’s what allowed me to build a relationship with Sony. Without doing ‘Madame Web,’ I wouldn’t have a relationship with the decision-makers over there,” she explained. “Everything in my career I do not just for that story, but strategic business decisions. Because I did that, I was able to sell ‘Anyone but You.’ I was able to get ‘Barbarella.’”
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