Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Kayleigh Donaldson | Celebrity | September 10, 2026
Remember when selling out was considered embarrassing? Remember when the idea of celebrities shilling for big corporations was so heavily mocked that A-Listers had to flee to Japan to do those ads in semi-secret? Now, getting your bag is the in thing, even if you're already obscenely rich, and what better way to line your already-bulging pockets than by partnering up with prediction markets? Because plain old sports gambling isn't ethically corrosive enough!
Over the Labor Day weekend, LeBron James announced a new partnership with Polymarket. He headlined an ad for the highly controversial company that also starred Eli Manning, Derek Jeter, Sue Bird, John Leguizamo, Spike Lee, and others. James, who is one of the highest paid athletes alive, previously had a multi-year deal with DraftKings. Maybe he was sad that his fans couldn't risk their life savings on whether or not a nation was going to be bombed. For anyone wondering, his net worth, according to Forbes, is an estimated $1.4 billion.
Does anyone else think that athletes shouldn't be allowed to endorse any kind of gambling? Partnering up with any of these platforms feels like a massive conflict of interest, especially since many leagues are pretty harsh with their punishments for players who are caught betting on their own games. Granted, all of the major leagues are now 100% in bed with all of these platforms. You can barely go a few seconds without seeing some sort of gambling ad. But the prediction market cycle is way worse, thanks to a lack of regulation and its gamification of literally everything. Polymarket is in the middle of another round of drama after Amanda Hirsch, the woman behind the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast (yes, that's its name), was forced to apologize after using the Lindsay Clancy trial as the basis for a Polymarket ad. Because the ability to make money off the deaths of three children is our new normal.
How can this get any tackier? Step forward, Sydney Sweeney. She's now a "strategic partner" and equity holder in Novig, which is a sports prediction market. That's totally different from a gambling platform, you guys. Sweeney, continuing her proud tradition of pandering to the worst people alive, worked with Novig on their new ad, which she says was designed to "put the focus entirely on sports. The campaign brings that idea to life with confidence, humor and a playful edge."
That means she's naked.
What does this have to do with sports? Or gambling? This feels like a mean parody of Sydney Sweeney's male gaze-forward MAGA pandering, made by someone who hates her. But it was her idea? None of it's surprising, alas. This is just who she is. Really, I'm no longer surprised by any celebrity doing prediction market or gambling ads. I imagine these companies just keep adding zeroes to the end of the one on the cheque until they say yes. Still, it feels like we're only a few years away from a massive scandal regarding this mess. How can you encourage people to bet in literally everything and not have that lead to lies, crookedness, or market manipulation? Players no longer have any incentive to follow the rules. After all, they're not the ones risking ruin, unlike the fans they're coaxing into these hellish cycles of addiction.
