Euphoria Season 3 had been met with online backlash.
The OnlyFans track of Sydney Sweeney's Cassie was widely questioned.
Creator Sam Levinson has come out advocating for "fairly critical" depiction of OnlyFans.
Euphoria creator Sam Levinson is talking about the online outrage over Sydney Sweeney's character, Cassie Howard, and her season 3 OnlyFans character arc. On Real Time With Bill Maher, Levinson spoke about wanting to explore “the long-term consequences" of online sex work.
“What happens when you know, as a young person, you’re on Instagram … and you’re told that you’re the product, you’re the brand, and now you’re 18 years old, and you’re going well, ‘How do I make money?’” he said. “And I just thought chasing that desire, that kind of fast cash, was an interesting thing to kind of explore.”
Levinson affirmed that they “caught a lot of criticism for it,” but mused if they would “get the same criticism” if they actually “affirmed this life. You know, we take a fairly critical look at it,” he noted. “It hollows out the individual. You know, you’re constantly just depending on the likes and external validation.” Levinson also discussed what he said is an added layer to Sweeney’s character’s arch — social media and how pervasive the online influencer culture can be for young people.
“I mean, if you’re constantly taking photos of yourself and selling yourself online,” he explained, “it’s the natural evolution of it.” Levinson also discussed what he said is an added layer to Sweeney’s character’s arch — social media and how all-encompassing the online influencer culture can be for young people. “I mean, if you’re constantly taking photos of yourself and selling yourself online,” he explained, “it’s the natural evolution of it.”
“She has a need to be validated by other people,” Sweeney told Vanity Fair in a June interview. “She doesn’t know how to love herself unless someone else loves her. So I understand how Sam got her to where she was in season 3. I think she was more excited by the idea of these people loving her and knowing who she is and feeling like her world isn’t small.”In June, Levinson clarified on The New York Times podcast, Popcast, that he initially thought about shooting the scenes minus the nudity - but Sweeney cut in and made her opinions clear on the matter. He recalled. “She ooked at me and she was like, ‘Are you kidding? I’m playing an OnlyFans model. You’re telling me you’re going to like, skirt around it?’ And I was like, yeah, OK, that’s a fair point.”
