Olivia Rodrigo is the latest Hollywood star to be accused of ‘sexualizing infancy’ after she donned a babydoll dress on stage.
The incident comes just weeks after actress Sydney Sweeney’s Euphoria character Cassie Jacobs dressed up as an adult baby on OnlyFans in an episode of the hit HBO series, which sparked widespread outrage.
Rodrigo, 23, shocked fans over the weekend by performing a show for Spotify in Barcelona in a lavender babydoll dress and matching bloomers.
A video of the former Disney star writhing around suggestively on stage in the outfit has garnered over 23million impressions on X (formerly Twitter), with many fans on the social media site expressing shock and disgust over her ensemble.
‘Why and I cannot stress this enough, [why] is she dressing like a toddler and touching herself in a sexual manner? Who the hell stans this kind of abhorrent behaviour? Dress like an adult and do it, fine, but a child? Hard f***ing pass!’ commented one user.
‘For real though, that babydoll s**t on a grown woman is straight ick. Looks like she’s cosplaying as a kid and it’s weird as f**k,’ added another.
‘We need to stop this infantilism in the media industry The Cassie act in Euphoria should’ve been the last straw,’ wrote a third.
Despite the backlash, a number of fans also came to Rodrigo’s defense.
Olivia Rodrigo is the latest Hollywood star to be accused of ‘sexualizing infancy’ after she donned a babydoll dress on stage during a concert in Barcelona over the weekend
‘It’s actually tired that a woman can’t even dress like she likes because people instantly thinks she’s sexualizing herself. The issue isn’t Olivia; it’s your mindset. YOU are the problem. If you’re a pervert, that’s your problem alone,’ argued one fan.
Another wrote, ‘The pearl-clutchers melting down over Olivia in a cute floral babydoll dress are the same ones sexualizing everything a young woman wears. It’s literally just a dress, not ‘toddler cosplay’. Your dirty minds are the problem, not her outfit.’
Even Rolling Stone defended Rodrigo in a lengthy article, suggesting that the pop star was the victim of a ‘bot-coordinated attack’ designed to ‘manufacture outrage’.
Some have also argued that Rodrigo’s wardrobe was simply a homage to Courtney Love, who famously rocked babydoll dresses while performing with Hole in the ’90s.
‘Wasn’t this the style by female fronted bands in the 90s? I believe Courtney Love dressed like this and to my knowledge it wasn’t a problem,’ one fan wrote on Reddit.
The Rodrigo controversy comes just weeks after Sweeney shocked Euphoria viewers when her character performed a sexualized adult baby cosplay act on OnlyFans.
In the disturbing scene, Sweeney wore a sheer pink top that revealed her breasts and a pair of white panties that looked similar to a young child’s underwear.
Her curly blonde locks were styled into two pigtails while a pink pacifier was placed in her mouth as she spread her legs open.
Some social media users accused Rodrigo of ‘dressing like a toddler’ and ‘cosplaying as a kid’
Others defended the 23-year-old and argued that her outfit was a throwback to the babydoll dresses worn by Courtney Love in the ’90s
The scene drew the ire of right wing commentator Megyn Kelly, who eviscerated Sweeney during a rant on her SiriusXM podcast.
‘The truth is – this is sexualizing infancy. That’s what this is,’ Kelly said to her cohosts while showing an image of Sweeney ‘spread eagle’ on a couch.
She went on to slam fans of the series who had defended the content as a ‘pretty common kink,’ even branding Euphoria creator Sam Levinson as ‘sick.’
As for Sweeney, Kelly said she was shocked the actress agreed to the sexual content, referencing another scene from the first episode where she was dressed up as a dog and engaging in ‘puppy play’.
Levinson took the majority of the heat from the talk show host, as Kelly accused Levinson of ‘injecting nudity’ into scenes so the actresses would have to take their clothes off.
The incident comes just weeks after Sydney Sweeney’s Euphoria character Cassie Jacobs dressed up as an adult baby on OnlyFans in an episode of the hit HBO series
In the disturbing scene, Sweeney wore a sheer pink top that revealed her breasts and a pair of white panties that looked similar to a young child’s underwear
Kelly argued that the controversial scenes were an example of ‘Hollywood not understanding at all where the line is,’ adding that most ‘normal people,’ including Sweeney’s fans, will recoil at her dressed as a baby.
Female pop stars and actresses infantilizing themselves has been part of Hollywood and the music industry for decades.
When Britney Spears was just 17 years old, she appeared in a provocative 1999 Rolling Stone cover shoot that saw her depicted as a sexualized young girl, complete with props like a pink child’s bicycle and a Teletubbies plushie.
And in 2013, Ariana Grande was forced to change the cover of her sophomore album Yours Truly following backlash to the original artwork, which seemingly depicted her in a ‘Lolita’ style.
More recently, Sabrina Carpenter has come under fire for some of her tour outfits, which have included babydoll dresses with thigh-high stockings and lingerie.
