Sydney Sweeney vs Ed Sheeran: Who’s lost more followers after their HUGE controveries this week?

Sydney Sweeney and Ed Sheeran are both at the centre of major controversies this week and have lost a huge number of followers because of the backlash, but who’s lost more?

Sheeran is being criticised for allowing Bob Kraft to remove Macklemore from his tour over pro-Palestine comments, while Sweeney is getting slammed for sexualising women in her new X-rated Novig sports ad. 

Both are losing hordes of followers, but it’s Sweeney who’s lost the most. The official figures show she’s lost a whopping 207k in the last 14 days, while Sheeran has only dropped 77k so far. But his controversy is a lot newer. Much larger figures are floating around social media, but these are all fake news. 

The Sydney Sweeney backlash started last Wednesday, when the ad for sports betting app Novig first dropped. In the video, she strips down naked and poses with various sports equipment like footballs, basketballs and a hockey net.

Confirmed: Sydney Sweeney knows ball. pic.twitter.com/EXQ4PzVZsi

— Novig (@Novig) September 9, 2026

Called “Just Sports,” the campaign is trying to spread the message that the app is purpose-built just for sports, yet it’s getting slammed for completely sexualising women in the field. Many female athletes have spoken out about how damaging it is. 

In an indirect response to the backlash that was seemingly supposed to make a point, Sweeney shared photos of famous female athletes who have posed naked on her Instagram story, including Serena Williams, Ronda Rousey and Sue Bird.

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As for Ed Sheeran, he’s getting called out for letting Bob Kraft remove Macklemore from his Loop Tour for saying “Free Palestine” in a speech between songs. 

“Ed was in a f**cked up position. He knew it. His typical apolitical stance was being challenged in a way it had never been before. He told me that the words ‘Free Palestine’ and the image of the Palestinian flag were hurtful to a lot of people he spoke with,” he wrote in a statement on Instagram. 

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by BEN (@macklemore)

“I told him that if those words were more offensive than tens of thousands of Palestinian children being killed by Israel, then there was a fundamental disconnect between where those people stood and where I stood. But he couldn’t get past his public-facing, ‘I don’t take sides’.” Lots of celebrities are flooding Macklemore’s post with support. 

Ed Sheeran and Sydney Sweeney haven’t publicly responded to the backlash. The Tab has reached out to them for comment. 

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Featured image credit: Novig and Ash Knotek/Shutterstock for Global