Euphoria Fans Outraged: Sydney Sweeney Faces Backlash Over Alleged On-Screen Degradation

Following a polarizing season three debut that sparked controversy over some of its more provocative content, “Euphoria” returned with its second episode on Sunday. The series, created by Sam Levinson and starring Zendaya and Sydney Sweeney, has been a major talking point since its comeback on HBO Max after a four-year break from the airwaves.

This season picks up five years after the characters’ high school days, offering a fresh perspective on their lives. Despite the anticipation, the latest episode, aptly named “America My Dream,” has left many viewers unsettled. Fans are particularly concerned about the portrayal of Sydney Sweeney’s character, Cassie, who seems to be caught in a cycle of being depicted in increasingly explicit and degrading scenarios.

The episode showcases Cassie engaging in bold photo shoots for her OnlyFans account. One of the most talked-about scenes features her provocatively posing with ice cream dripping down her bare chest, a continuation of themes from the previous episode where she dressed as a dog. These scenes have sparked debate over the portrayal of her character and the direction of the series.

In another striking sequence, Cassie dons only a backwards baseball cap while posing in a baseball-themed setting, carefully concealing her body with strategic arm placements. The storyline further pushes boundaries as she adopts an ‘adult baby’ persona, leaving audiences questioning the intent behind these creative choices.

In another daring shot, she is seen wearing nothing but a backwards baseball cap as she poses in a baseball-themed set, strategically using her arms to cover her chest and lower body. Later on she portrays an ‘adult baby’ with her legs up in the air.

‘Somebody save Sydney Sweeney,’ one fan wrote, as many others called the scenes a ‘humiliation ritual.’ 

Euphoria fans were left appalled at Sydney Sweeney being ‘degraded’ in new X-rated fetish scenes on the second episode of season three

Her character Cassie was captured posing for a series of provocative new photos for her OnlyFans account

‘Please god i cant keep seeing cassie degrade herself in the most embarrassing ways imaginable,’ someone else added. 

‘Sydney girlllll say no to some stuff,’ another fan pleaded. 

‘How is Sydney even agreeing to do this season of Euphoria?’ someone else questioned.

‘Why would sydney agree to doing allat… weird.’

‘Seated for sydney sweeney to be typecasted the rest of her career.’

The episode kicks off with Maddy (Alexa Demie) now working at a Hollywood talent agency and navigating the Covid pandemic.

She begins managing Katelyn (Anna Van Patten), and pushes her into the world of digital fetish content, including nearly nude photos and feet content. However her boss forces her to drop Katelyn, saying she is going to cheapen the brand.

Maddy then meets up with Cassie, who is seen having her housekeeper take provocative photos of her to post on her OnlyFans.

‘Cassie was exactly the kinda girl you’d dream of signing. Beautiful, but directionless. So desperate for attention she’s willing to humiliate herself,’ the viewers are told by the narrator.

Cassie looks starstruck as she sees her former best friend, who comes to meet her in a glamorous fur coat.

She tells Maddy that she should have asked for permission before dating her ex Nate Jacobs (Jacob Elordi), to whom she’s now engaged. Maddy then forgives her. 

After a few drinks, Cassie reveals that she is looking for some help with her OnlyFans.

One graphic shot featured ice cream dripping down her nude cleavage

Later on she is seen posing as a baby, with her legs up in the air

She was also pictured in a sheer American flag top 

‘Somebody save Sydney Sweeney,’ one fan wrote, as many others called it a ‘humiliation ritual’

‘The market’s just oversaturated with a lot of girls like you,’ Maddy says.

‘How are all these girls making so much money when I’m way prettier than them?’ Cassie questions.  

Maddy then questions some of her content. ‘Yeah, the doggie video? It’s fun and it’s campy, but it’s not sexy, and it’s not timeless.’

‘But it’s cute though,’ Cassie insists.

‘It just feels a little desperate,’ Maddy tells her. ‘It feels like you’re trying way too hard, instead of just being.’

After asking if Nate is okay with her doing nudes, Maddy finally decides to help Cassie out.

Meanwhile, Rue (Zendaya) finds herself under the thumb of strip club magnate Alamo Brown (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), and is tasked with helping him scrub any evidence of a fatal overdose involving a young woman named Tish. 

The death occurred at Alamo’s party after Tish consumed a fentanyl-laced pill.

Because the bad pills came from Laurie (Martha Kelly), Alamo calls her up and demands that Rue work for him instead.

Since Rue was already muling drugs for Laurie to pay off her debt, Alamo takes over her contract as payback for the girl’s death.

Rue is then promoted to help with managing the Silver Slipper strip club.

She later hooks up with one of the strippers named Angel (Priscilla Delgado).

Cassie later meets up with her former best friend Maddy (Alexa Demie) to ask for help with her Only Fans content

‘The market’s just oversaturated with a lot of girls like you,’ Maddy tells her, adding that some of her content feels ‘desperate.’ However she decides to help her 

Eric Dane returned to the screen as Cal Jacobs in the episode, marking one of his final roles before his death from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) at age 53 in February

Cal visits his son – Cassie’s fiance – Nate Jacobs (Jacob Elordi), as viewers are told that the last five years have been ‘humiliating’ for Cal and that he went from being the town’s top real estate developer, to a ‘broke sexual deviant who narrowly avoided prison’

Cal tells Nate that he heard Cassie is selling photos of herself online from a guy at a Sex and Love Addicts meetings. ‘Once you give into temptation, it knows no limits,’ he says

Nate says that what Cassie is doing and what he did are ‘not the same thing’ adding, ‘You’re gay. You’re in denial, and it came out in very weird ways’

‘I’m not gay,’ Cal protests, adding, ‘I was a hedonist.’ Nate tells him, ‘You f****d men in the a**. How is that not gay?’ Cal explains, ‘I was a pitcher, not a catcher’

However, she admits that she misses her ex Jules Vaughn (Hunter Schafer). She recalls that a few years prior she used to visit Jules in the city while she was in art school.

She says that things were not the same as in high school, as too much had happened between them. Rue then admits that she had a bad relapse.

She leaves a tearful voicemail for her mom, begging to come home. Rue then tells viewers that she hasn’t been sober since.

While at work, Rue hears Angel leave Tish a tearful voicemail, asking her to call her back and that she is worried about her.

Meanwhile singer Rosalia stars as a stripper named Magick on the show.

Rue later meets up with Maddy, and they chat about her getting in touch with Jules.

Meanwhile, Eric Dane returns to the screen as Cal Jacobs in the episode, marking one of his final roles before his death from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) at age 53 in February 2026.

The beloved actor revealed in April 2025 that he had been diagnosed with ALS, but just days later confirmed he still planned to return to the hit HBO drama. Dane quietly completed scenes for the third season of the show before his tragic death.

Cal visits his son, as Rue tells the viewers that the last five years have been ‘humiliating’ for him and that he went from being the town’s top real estate developer, to a ‘broke sexual deviant who narrowly avoided prison.’

Cal tells Nate that he heard Cassie is selling photos of herself online from a guy at a Sex and Love Addicts meetings.

Cal asks his son if he is having financial issues, which he denies.

Meanwhile Cassie shows a friend some of her OnlyFans photos, with one of them depicting her as a baby

Cassie explains that ‘adult babies’ are a huge subculture, and that she keeps getting requests for ‘teething rings,’ ‘bassinets’ and people who want to see her wearing a diaper. ‘That’s sick,’ her friend tells her

Later on Nate confronts Cassie about her OnlyFans account and asks her to delete it, which she does

Hours after, while they’re in bed, Nate tells Cassie he doesn’t want them to have any secrets. Cassie then reveals that Maddy has been helping her and that she has invited her to their wedding

Meanwhile, Rue (Zendaya) finds herself under the thumb of strip club magnate Alamo Brown (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), and is tasked with helping him scrub any evidence of a fatal overdose involving a young woman named Tish

The death occurred at Alamo’s party after Tish consumed a fentanyl-laced pill. Because the bad pills came from Laurie (Martha Kelly), Alamo calls her up and demands that Rue work for him instead

Meanwhile viewers are shown that Nate is falling into significant debt while trying to keep his father’s real estate business afloat. 

The scene then cuts to Nate and his father discussing Cassie’s OnlyFans again.

‘Once you give into temptation, it knows no limits. I’m speaking from experience,’ his father tells him.

‘I didn’t start by having sex with men,’ Cal says, ‘My first affair was with a very sexy woman.’

Nate says that what Cassie is doing and what he did are ‘not the same thing.’

‘You’re gay. You’re in denial, and it came out in very weird ways,’ Nate told him.

‘I’m not gay,’ Cal protests, adding, ‘I was a hedonist.’

‘You f****d men in the a**,’ Nate tells him.

‘So?’ Cal questions.

‘How is that not gay?’

‘I was a pitcher, not a catcher,’ Cal explains.

At one point Rue hooks up with one of the strippers named Angel (Priscilla Delgado), who it turns out was best friends with Tish

‘She OD’d,’ Rue finally tells her. Angel doesn’t take the news lightly, as she breaks down crying in the bathroom, and later starts to spiral at work

Rue then intervenes on Angel’s behalf, and Alamo says he will pay for her rehab. Angel has a meltdown when she hears about the rehab idea, but eventually Rue persuades her to go

Meanwhile Rosalia stars as a stripper named Magick on the show

The next scene shows Rue having a confrontation with Angel, who is worried about Tish and acting out violently.

‘She OD’d,’ Rue finally tells her.

Angel doesn’t take the news lightly, as she breaks down crying in the bathroom, and later starts to spiral at work. 

Rue then intervenes on Angel’s behalf, and Alamo says he will pay for her rehab. 

Angel has a meltdown when she hears about the rehab idea, but eventually Rue persuades her to go.

Meanwhile Cassie shows a friend some of her OnlyFans photos, with one of them depicting her as a baby.

‘Why are you dressed as a baby?’ her friend asks.

Cassie explains that ‘adult babies’ are a huge subculture, and that she keeps getting requests for ‘teething rings,’ ‘bassinets’ and people who want to see her wearing a diaper.

‘That’s sick,’ her friend tells her.

Later on Nate confronts Cassie about her OnlyFans account and asks her to delete it, which she does. 

Hours after, while they’re in bed, Nate tells Cassie he doesn’t want them to have any secrets.

Cassie then reveals that Maddy has been helping her and that she has invited her to their wedding.

Meanwhile Rue drops off Angel at rehab, while Alamo drops off a large pig at Laurie’s house, as punishment for calling him a pig.

At the end of the episode Rue reunites with her ex Jules Vaughn (Hunter Schafer) after admitting that she missed her

Jules invites her up to her large luxury apartment and reveals that it belongs to her boyfriend, as Rue pokes fun of her being a sugar baby

The episode ends with Jules inviting Rue to keep her company as she takes a bath

Jules is shown at the end of the episode, as Rue surprises her with a visit.

Jules invites her up to her large luxury apartment and reveals that it belongs to her boyfriend, as Rue pokes fun of her being a sugar baby.

The episode ends with Jules inviting Rue to keep her company as she takes a bath. 

The season three premiere left viewers horrified over ‘nasty’ scenes involving Zendaya swallowing bags of fentanyl and Sweeney engaging in fetish work. 

Ahead of its premiere the third season was also torched with early reviews, with the show being labeled as an ‘unhinged disaster’ yet ‘pretty uneventful.’

It also held a 46% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes before the first episode became available on the streaming site.

Lauren Samer from the New York Post labeled the third season – which has a five-year time jump – as ‘Breaking Bad meets Looney Tunes.’

‘In the first two seasons, the show’s strength was how it dug into these characters’ lives. The plot got wild, but it was anchored by human drama.’

Samer added, ‘Now, as we find them as adults, it would be more compelling to see them struggle because of their flaws. Instead, many of them struggle because random criminal henchmen are after them.’

The BBC’s Caryn James gave the first three episodes two out of five stars.

James also wrote that ‘Euphoria has become a series with very little to say, none of it very audacious or compelling.

‘Based on the three episodes, of eight, that HBO made available in advance, it is a strained attempt to make the closed circle of friends it follows, now in their early 20s, somehow the same only different.’

The new season premiered under the cloud of the tragic untimely deaths of two major players in the cast, Dane and Angus Cloud.

Ahead of its premiere on Sunday, the third season was torched with early reviews, with the show being labeled as an ‘unhinged disaster’ yet ‘pretty uneventful’

Cloud starred on the teen drama as the drug dealer Fezco aka ‘Fez,’ who emerges as a voice of reason of sorts to the other characters.

The actor was just 25 years old when he died in July 2023 of a combined overdose of fentanyl, meth, cocaine and benzodiazepines.

Following the tragic passing of the actor, the show opted to explain his absence by revealing Fez is doing a lengthy stint in prison. 

Season one of Euphoria initially premiered back in 2019, with the second season following three years later.

The eight-episode third season will roll out on a weekly basis, with the finale set to air on May 31.