‘Never, Ever Been Happier’: Euphoria’s Cassie Vs. Maddy Wins Best Fight

By Deepa Lakshmin


Once Cassie Howard (Sydney Sweeney) crashed her school’s play in the explosive season 2 finale of HBO’s Euphoria, the students in the audience were on the edge of their seats — and thus were the real-life viewers watching the HBO drama at residence. What unfolded next was pure chaos: Cassie and Maddy Perez (Alexa Demie) screamed, slapped, chased, and clawed at each other onstage to hash out how their friendship had fallen apart thanks in part to their toxic entanglements with Nate Jacobs (Jacob Elordi). Oof.


Perhaps unsurprisingly, this public brawl snagged The perfect Fight award on Sunday night (June 5) at the 2022 MTV Movie & TV Awards in Santa Monica, where Sweeney accepted a Golden Popcorn at Barker Hangar. Cassie vs. Maddy won out against Black Widow’s Black Widow vs. Widows, Free Guy’s Guy vs. Dude, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ bus fight, and Spider-Man: No Way Home’s end battle.


“I wish Alexa was here so that she may thank the astonishing fans that we have, because you all are so incredible,” Sweeney mentioned. “But I have to be truthful, Maddie might have gotten the last punch, yet Cassie has never, ever been happier.”


As Euphoria fans surely remember, this last line is a reference to Cassie’s now-iconic line — “I have never, ever been happier” — that she says in the girls’ washroom while hysterically crying about her relationship with Nate. And let’s not forget Maddy’s fan-favorite line that’s right now turned into an inescapable TikTok sound: “Wait, is this fucking play about us?”


Turns out, Cassie’s sister and playwright Lexi (Maude Apatow) penned the script based on her family member and friends’ real lives. Cassie and Maddy weren’t having it, although the rest of the audience loved the performance’s messy turn, with Rue Bennett (Zendaya) and Jules Vaughn (Hunter Schafer) cheering for more. And thus, drama be damned, the show went on


The 2022 MTV Movie & TV Awards are airing live from the Barker Hangar in L.A. Now on MTV, with the Movie & TV Awards: UNSCRIPTED to follow. Find all of the winners here.