Sydney Sweeney’s media tour for “Christy,” her new biopic about legendary boxer Christy Martin, has been overshadowed by loud on-line backlash that erupted over a latest American Eagle advert. Critics accused the actress, who posed in denim alongside the slogan “Sydney Sweeney has nice denims,” of selling racist undertones, sparking days of heated social media debate. However whereas the web piled on, one man who knew Sweeney lengthy earlier than the crimson carpets and world film premieres is talking out, and he’s not holding again. Arthur Chivichyan, a revered martial artist and the actress’s former coaching accomplice, says the outrage is totally misplaced… and that the Sydney Sweeney he skilled for years is nothing just like the caricature being pushed on-line.

Lengthy earlier than “Euphoria,” “White Lotus,” or rom-com fame, Sydney Sweeney was a 13-year-old actor-in-training whose mom drove her to Hayastan MMA Academy in Los Angeles to construct her expertise and her confidence. What occurred subsequent surprised even hardened fighters. “Sydney was a troublesome, aggressive individual,” Chivichyan instructed Day by day Mail. “And sure, it’s true. She would beat up guys.”

He defined that the health club was “99% males,” the type of place the place folks “get knocked out,” not a mild jiu-jitsu studio. Most younger women would stroll in, see a room stuffed with grown males sparring, and switch round. Not Sydney. “She wasn’t a crybaby,” he stated. “She skilled exhausting, sweat dripping down her face, hair messy, and he or she didn’t care. We handled her like another pupil and when new guys joined, she would beat a variety of them up.”

Sydney Sweeney competed in grappling and kickboxing tournaments, usually going through males because of the lack of feminine rivals. Her scrappy resilience continued for six years, shaping the toughness followers at the moment are seeing in “Christy.” It’s a backstory that mirrors the actual Christy Martin, and one Chivichyan says makes Sydney the proper actress to play her.

As Sydney Sweeney navigated press for “Christy,” the American Eagle advert sparked a wave of accusations on-line, backlash that Chivichyan believes is totally baseless. “It’s simply so silly,” he stated. “Persons are doing this for engagement and clicks. They’re making an attempt to speak an individual down.”

Chivichyan, who identifies as Armenian American, stated he has zero doubt about who Sweeney is. “Sydney is one hundred pc not a racist,” he emphasised. “Her film screening crowd was extremely numerous. Individuals of all colours and sexualities. Everybody there was personally invited by her. If she have been racist, everybody would have regarded the identical, and that was not the case.”

He says the star hasn’t let fame change her character, both. When he and some members of the Hayastan Academy met Sydney at Shake Shack earlier than her personal screening, she greeted them with hugs and spent a full hour catching up. “She didn’t have to try this,” he stated. “However she cared. She stated if we host a screening for college kids, she’ll come and shock them. That’s the actual Sydney.”

In “Christy,” Sydney Sweeney steps into a task in contrast to something in her earlier filmography. She portrays boxing trailblazer Christy Martin, who turned a famous person within the ring whereas privately combating devastating battles together with an abusive marriage, dependancy, and her personal sexuality. Martin’s husband, Jim, who shot and stabbed her in a 2010 homicide try, is performed by Ben Foster. Merritt Wever performs Christy’s spouse, Joyce.

To embody the fighter, Sweeney gained 35 kilos of muscle via 19-hour coaching days. She has repeatedly credited her MMA basis, constructed below Arthur’s father, legendary coach Gokor Chivichyan, for getting her via the physicality of the function.

Christy Martin herself has fiercely defended Sydney Sweeney from the backlash, writing, “Syd not solely labored her a-s off for this movie, she labored her a-s off for me. For my story. She is my good friend and ally.”