Christy Martin hits out at Sydney Sweeney ‘psychopath’ criticism after biopic sets unwanted record

Christy Martin, the focus of new biopic Christy, has hit out at recent criticism of Sydney Sweeney with a strongly worded post on Instagram.

Sweeney has fallen under fire in recent weeks for her response to the controversy surrounding her American Eagle ad, leading Ruby Rose to call her a ‘cretin’.

Ruby Rose hit out at Sydney Sweeney after having originally been the person cast to play the boxing legend, stating that the original script was ‘incredible’, pointing to the fact that most of the people involved in the earlier iteration of the film were gay.

Christy focuses in part on Martin’s identity as a lesbian, one of the reasons Rose suggested that Sweeney wasn’t the right choice for the film.

Sydney Sweeney was slammed by Ruby Rose, who was originally attached in the role (Phillip Faraone via Getty Images)

This is largely motivated by news that Sweeney is a registered Republican, something which has caused a stir alongside conservative support for her amid the American Eagle controversy.

Rose said: “For her PR to talk about it flopping and saying SS did it for the ‘people.’ None of ‘the people’ want to see someone who hates them, parading around pretending to be us.

"You’re a cretin and you ruined the film. Period. Christy deserved better.”

Rose later corrected the post once she learned that cretin is considered to be an offensive term, going even further and calling Sweeney a ‘psychopath’.

Christy Martin herself however has come to Sweeney’s defence, posting a picture of herself with the actor on Instagram.

Christy Martin and Sydney Sweeney (Frazer Harrison via Getty Images)

She added a caption saying: “I’ve always been a fighter. My life reflected that in every way and now I fight for others.

“The past few days I have seen some people attack my friend Sydney Sweeney. Syd not only worked her ass off for this film, she worked her ass off for me.

"For my story. For so many others suffering in silence.

“So I want to be clear about who Syd is. She is my friend and ally!”

The controversy surrounding Sweeney dates back to her American Eagle jeans ad from earlier this year in which she talked about having ‘great genes’.

This was criticised as espousing eugenics language, something which some experts have gone as far as to say it was the company ‘aligning themselves with a white nationalist, MAGA-friendly identity’.

Sweeney recently spoke about this controversy for the first time in an interview with GQ, saying: “I know who I am. I know what I value. I know that I’m a kind person.

“I know that I love a lot, and I know that I’m just excited to see what happens next. And so I don’t really let other people define who I am.

“I did a jean ad. I mean, the reaction definitely was a surprise, but I love jeans.”

Ruby Rose is not the only well known name to criticise Sweeney over her reaction to the controversy, with Sex Education star Aimee Lou Wood commenting a ‘sickened’ emoji underneath a post about the Euphoria star’s statements.

Christy set unwanted records amid the furore around Sweeney, earning just $1.3 million (£990,000) in its opening weekend, one of the top ten lowest of all time for films opening in over 1,000 theatres.