Sydney Sweeney dragged into cultural war from TikTok to White House
Sydney Sweeney faces biggest controversy of her career after starring for jeans campaign
The thriving Hollywood actress and producer Sydney Sweeney, who has been nominated twice for Emmys, mustn’t have seen the biggest controversy coming her way while doing a seemingly simple denim campaign.
The Euphoria star was dragged into an American cultural war after American Eagle dropped its “Sydney Has Great Jeans” campaign on July 23.
The following few days turned into a battlefield, from TikTok to the White House, when the campaign clip starring Sweeney said, “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair colour, personality and even eye colour. My jeans are blue.”
Social media users alleged it echoed Nazi propaganda by idealising Sweeney’s white, blonde, blue-eyed appearance. However, others dismissed the theories as nonsense — but it had already gone viral.
Mainstream media amplified the controversy, and from late-night shows to the White House, the debate began to rage.
“Sydney Sweeney, a registered Republican, has the ‘HOTTEST’ ad out there. It’s for American Eagle, and the jeans are ‘flying off the shelves.’ Go get ‘em, Sydney!” Trump defended the campaign in a post on Truth Social. “The tide has seriously turned — being WOKE is for losers, being Republican is what you want to be.”
However, amidst all this, the Emmy-nominated actress stayed silent; she still hasn’t said a word, while the brand insisted it was a mere slogan about jeans and nothing more.
This controversy brings back one of Sweeney’s interviews with THR in July 2022, where she said actors like her didn’t earn as much as people assumed. She explained she had to pay her lawyer, agents, business manager, and publicist from her earnings, which was more than her “mortgage.”
“If I just acted, I wouldn’t be able to afford my life in LA,” she claimed in the interview. “I take deals because I have to.”
Linking this statement to The White Lotus star’s recent controversy perhaps proves that the actress had nothing to do with the campaign.
Moreover, as per THR, an expert said that in this scenario, what’s great “for Sweeney is that while it may have had everyone talking, she wasn’t. Everyone was speaking about her, and she didn’t have to do anything.”
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