For some unfathomable reason, veteran Hollywood producer Carol Baum (that’s her on the right) felt compelled to gratuitously insult the current Hollywood “It” girl, Sydney Sweeney (on the left) in an on stage interview with New York Times film critic Janet Maslin. Baum 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.”
The adjunct professor at the University of Southern California, 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.”
Huh. What could it be? And nobody had an answer! It’s a mystery. What is it about Sydney Sweeney that anyone would possibly find “hot”? Wow. That’s right up there with the “Mary Celeste” and the Lost Colony. Incomprehensible!
Aside from the fact that Carol must be going blind, that apparently all of her female students are jealous and that all of her male students are gay, there is never a justification for publicly insulting a performer who has done nothing to earn an attack except to be successful.
Sweeney was, predictably, not pleased. “How sad that a woman in the position to share her expertise and experience chooses instead to attack another woman,” she said. “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. To unjustly disparage a fellow female producer speaks volumes about Ms. Baum’s character.” (It’s a bit disingenuous for Sweeney to describe herself as a producer, though she has produced one film. Everybody in Hollywood is a producer, or nearly. She’s famous and popular as a rising actress. Baum wasn’t criticizing a producer by saying she couldn’t act and wasn’t pretty.)
And it has to be said: for someone who looks like Baum to criticize the appearance of Sydney Sweeney is the equivalent of hanging a “Kick Me!” sign on one’s own back.
But I’m still going crazy trying to figure out what it is that anyone finds hot about Sydney Sweeney….
Ethics Alarms 
She teaches at USC. Isn’t that the same school with the muslim valedictorean issue? I have a suggestion for the esteemed professor. Go to the nearest middle school, gather all the boys, both real and imagined, show them the picture and take a survey of their answers.
Two things come immediately to mind.
Heh! GUT LAUGH LEADER BOARD entry, Joel!
Reminded me of a REAL old (IIRC) Mad Magazine skit where a singer said to his audience, referencing a late Sharon Tate sitting down…um…front alone: “And I’d Like To Dedicate My Next Number To A Lovely Couple.”
When a member of his band said Tate was by herself, hilarity ensued.
PWS
This may still need further research.
Where, oh where is luckyesteeyoreman, beloved A commenter who was last here in late 2020? He would have loved Sydney, just as had a crush on this one…
The adjunct professor at the University of Southern California, 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.”
Huh. What could it be? And nobody had an answer! It’s a mystery. What is it about Sydney Sweeney that anyone would possibly find “hot”? Wow. That’s right up there with the “Mary Celeste” and the Lost Colony. Incomprehensible!
Jack’s response made me think of Bill Burr. Good comment Joel.
Women Sports, what men think but can’t say (youtube.com)
THANKS for that, Caped Crusader; goes in my permanent files!
PWS
I have watched that comedy routine from Burr a bunch of times, and it’s uproariously funny every time!!
He deftly smacks many an Inconvenient Truth which are Spoken In Jest.
PWS
The adjunct professor at the University of Southern California, added: “I said to my class, ‘Explain this girl to me…Why is she so hot?’
If only I could put my finger on it.
I had also wondered about the sudden rise of Sydney Sweeney (I’m sorry to everyone mesmerized by the included picture: There are plenty of great breasts in the world). The show Euphoria was her original boost, and is very popular among Gen Z and younger Millenials.
The main thing that I know of here is that, during the pandemic when most people were baking bread, she rebuilt a vintage Ford Bronco (she is from a family of mechanics and grew up working on cars) and posted her progress online. That impressed me more than her Red Carpet appearances.
She was fine in “White Lotus.”
As well as the cleavage, the dress reminded immediately brings to mind Dick Cavett recounting working as a writer for Jack Parr and being tasked with writing Jack’s introduction for the impending appearance of Jayne Mansfield. The work product: “And here they are, Jayne Mansfield.”
(Which use of the plural pronoun is ridiculously ironic given current enlightened usage.)
I had been thinking that the classic Sophia Loren/Jane Mansfield photo could easily be recreated by Brie Larsen (with her classic/conservative red carpet looks) and Sydney Sweeney.
Jayne was something of a freak, and a more talented comic actress than she is remembered as being. And no dumb blonde. I’ve never heard or read Mariska talking about her mom.
Simply way too traumatic?
I don’t know. I once saw her photo at a costume ball where she appeared as Jayne (with padding, of course) and looked amazingly like her. She was so young when her mother died, and I think her father, Mickey, brought her up to be proud of her famous mother. That’s why I’d be fascinated to hear her thoughts.
Being, I suspect, more devious than you, I’d substitute Carol Baum for Sophia Loren…
PWS
That last one goes into my archive of sentences I am positive have never been uttered by anyone in all of human history.