Posted 1 hour agoSubscribe to BuzzFeed Daily NewsletterCaret DownAfter Sparking Widespread Backlash For Interviewing Sydney Sweeney, "Love Island" Star Leah Kateb Seemingly Tried To Distance Herself In A Shady Now-Deleted CommentIt comes after Sydney's latest movie, "Christy," broke a box office record for having the worst second weekend drop in movie history.by Stephanie SoteriouBuzzFeed StaffFacebookPinterestLink Last week, it became clear that some of Sydney Sweeney's industry peers are keen to distance themselves from her amid her ongoing "eugenics" scandal, with the 28-year-old star first courting controversy back in July when her American Eagle "great [genes]" campaign was accused of implicitly glorifying whiteness. Gilbert Flores / Getty Images BuzzFeed then confirmed that Sydney had registered as a Republican in the summer of 2024, sparking public praise from President Donald Trump. Win Mcnamee / Getty Images And the discourse reignited earlier this month when Sydney broke her silence on the campaign in a controversial interview with GQ, where she downplayed the situation and refused to deny that the ad was about eugenics. When explicitly asked if she'd like to address the specific criticism that "white people shouldn't joke about genetic superiority" in the current political climate, Sydney said: "I think that when I have an issue that I want to speak about, people will hear." In addition to her comment, Sydney's nonchalant demeanor in the video interview also sparked backlash. GQ Unsurprisingly, the whole thing triggered widespread scrutiny, with Aimee Lou Wood, Christina Ricci, and SZA among the stars to have publicly expressed their disapproval of Sydney's latest behavior. In addition, it was widely reported that her Euphoria co-star Zendaya is refusing to do press with her. Jc Olivera / Getty Images That's not to say that absolutely everybody in showbiz is shunning Sydney, though, with Nicola Peltz Beckham, Maude Apatow, and Mario Lopez among the names to still be supporting the actor on her social media account, as well as her The Housemaid co-star Amanda Seyfried. Paras Griffin / Getty Images Commenting on one of Sydney's post-GQ controversy posts about her box office flop movie Christy, Amanda commented: "YOU KILL. Brave and true," and the pair have since kickstarted their The Housemaid press tour, which has consisted of several joint interviews. Valerie Macon / Getty Images And one of those interviews was hosted by former Love Island USA star Leah Kateb, who competed on the reality show just last year and has since carved a successful presenting career for herself with over five million followers on Instagram. Instagram @leahkateb / Via instagram.com On Wednesday, Leah shared the video interview with Amanda and Sydney across all of her socials, captioning the post: "Spilling tea and oversharing with the girls 10/10 🫖 Don't miss all the drama - #thehousemaidmovie hits theaters Dec 19 and tickets are on sale now 🖤 @housemaidmovie @lionsgate #lionsgatepartner," but it did not go down well with her followers. Instagram @leahkateb / Via instagram.com In fact, Leah faced immense scrutiny for platforming Sydney on her page, with one popular comment reading: "Content with Sydney is highkey crazy Leah, actually didn't think you'd ever.""girl leah i love you to death but sydney??" another echoed, while one more adds: "I guess everyone doesn't have the same morals as Zendaya. This is disappointing." And amid all the backlash, it appears that Leah wanted to clear her name and create as much distance as possible between herself and Sydney. When an Instagram follower asked: "Why are you doing videos with sydney....," Leah purportedly replied: "it's almost like I have a contract with lionsgate 😍 not homegirl 😍" Instagram @leahkateb / Via x.com It's worth noting that while a screenshot of this comment has been widely shared across social media, it has seemingly been deleted since, and has not been independently verified by BuzzFeed. In addition to celebrities turning their backs on Sydney, her recent scandal has seemingly had other consequences, too, with her newly-released biopic about boxing legend Christy Martin marking her third box office flop in just four months. (C) Black Bear /Courtesy Everett Collection Christy made just $1.3 million on its opening weekend, after Sydney's film Americana, which was released in August, made less than $500,000 at the box office despite its $9 million budget. Eden, also released in August, earned just $2.5 million with a $35 million budget. And Box Office Mojo have now reported that Christy's bad performance has actually set a new box office record for having the worst second weekend drop in movie history, with the movie dropping by more than 91% and earning just $108,487 in its second weekend. (C) Black Bear /Courtesy Everett Collection Amid all of this, the real Christy has leaped to Sydney's defense, posting on Instagram last week to call the actor her "friend and ally."