Sydney Sweeney is finally speaking out on the American Eagles jeans campaign that caused a national firestorm earlier this year. Speaking to GQ magazine for a new cover story, the “Euphoria” Emmy nominee said she was never tempted to put together a formal statement explaining or defending the controversial ads during the height of backlash because “I’ve always believed that I’m not here to tell people what to think.”
“I know who I am. I know what I value. I know that I’m a kind person,” Sweeney said. “I know that I love a lot, and I know that I’m just excited to see what happens next. And so I don’t really let other people define who I am.”
Speaking directly about the campaign and the subsequent backlash, Sweeney said: “I did a jean ad. I mean, the reaction definitely was a surprise, but I love jeans. All I wear are jeans. I’m literally in jeans and a T-shirt every day of my life… I knew at the end of the day what that ad was for, and it was great jeans, it didn’t affect me one way or the other.”
Sweeney’s American Eagle campaign was centered on the tagline “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans,” which created a pun around “great genes” and ignited outrage online over the company allegedly glorifying the actor’s white heritage and thin physique. Some users on social media even compared the ads to “Nazi propaganda.”
A national controversy ensued, so much so that Trump’s White House weighed in when communications manager Steven Cheung called the backlash a prime example of “cancel culture run amok.” Vice President JD Vance then mocked liberals for creating a hysteria around campaign and quipped: “My political advice to the Democrats is continue to tell everybody who thinks Sydney Sweeney is attractive is a Nazi. That appears to be their actual strategy.”
Even Donald Trump got asked about the ads amid reports that Sweeney was also a registered Republican. The president responded: “She’s a registered Republican? Oh, now I love her ad! You’d be surprised at how many people are Republicans… If Sydney Sweeney is a registered Republican, I think her ad is fantastic!”
Sweeney told GQ magazine that “it was surreal” to have Trump and Vance weighing in on the ads, but she did not pay attention to the controversy at large.
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“I kind of just put my phone away,” the actor said. “I was filming every day. I’m filming ‘Euphoria,’ so I’m working 16-hour days and I don’t really bring my phone on set, so I work and then I go home and I go to sleep. So I didn’t really see a lot of it.”
One thing Sweeney did hear about was American Eagle’s stock rising 38% amid the controversy, to which she said: “I was aware of the numbers as it was going. So when I saw all the headlines of in-store visits were down a certain percentage, none of it was true. It was all made up, but nobody could say anything because [the company was] in their quiet period. So it was all just a lot of talk.”
Sweeney is currently promoting “Christy,” her well-reviewed biopic on boxer Christy Martin. To those who would potentially use Sweeney’s politics or the jeans ad against her by choosing not watch her movies or TV projects, Sweeney shared this note: “I think that if somebody is closed off because of something they read online to a powerful story like ‘Christy,’ then I hope that something else can open their eyes to being open to art and being open to learning, and I’m not going to be affected by that.”
Head over to GQ’s website to read Sweeney’s cover story in its entirety.
From Variety US