{"id":335161,"date":"2025-12-07T14:12:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T14:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/335161\/"},"modified":"2025-12-07T14:12:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T14:12:07","slug":"sydney-sweeney-says-her-silence-over-jeans-advert-backlash-widened-the-divide-sydney-sweeney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/335161\/","title":{"rendered":"Sydney Sweeney says her silence over jeans advert backlash \u2018widened the divide\u2019 | Sydney Sweeney"},"content":{"rendered":"

The actor Sydney Sweeney<\/a> has said she should have addressed the controversy surrounding her American Eagle jeans advert, which was accused by critics of flirting with eugenics, saying not doing so \u201cwidened the divide\u201d between people.<\/p>\n

Sweeney, who made her name in HBO\u2019s Euphoria and has since become a leading Hollywood star, told People magazine she regretted staying silent<\/a> during the row, in which Donald Trump at one point intervened.<\/p>\n

The actor said she had \u201ccome to realise that my silence regarding this issue has only widened the divide, not closed it,\u201d while saying she is \u201cagainst hate\u201d.<\/p>\n

The \u201cSydney Sweeney has great jeans\u201d campaign launched in the summer and was a huge success for the brand, which became the most popular jean for people aged 15 to 25. American Eagle\u2019s stock also rose by 30%<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But the company\u2019s use of a blond-haired, blue-eyed model saying she \u201chas great jeans\u201d was criticised as carrying undertones of eugenics and being \u201ca nod to white supremacy<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

Some users on social media compared the ads to \u201cNazi propaganda\u201d; while one writer described the ad as \u201ca message straight out of the lab where they cook up culture-war pathogens\u201d. Trump called the campaign the \u201chottest ad out there<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

The brand wasn\u2019t only criticised by the left of the political spectrum \u2013 the financial magazine Forbes argued that it should \u201creconsider<\/a>\u201d the campaign. The publication also reported that American Eagle store visits were 9% down by the end of the summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was honestly surprised by the reaction,\u201d Sweeney added. \u201cI did it because I love the jeans and love the brand. I don\u2019t support the views some people chose to connect to the campaign. Many have assigned motives and labels to me that just aren\u2019t true.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone who knows me knows that I\u2019m always trying to bring people together. I\u2019m against hate and divisiveness,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope this new year brings more focus on what connects us instead of what divides us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sweeney is considered an outside bet for an Oscar next year for her lead performance in Christy, David Mich\u00f4d\u2019s biopic of the trailblazing boxer Christy Martin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

She has mostly avoided the American Eagle ad in promotional interviews but has described Trump\u2019s commenting on it as \u201csurreal<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The actor Sydney Sweeney has said she should have addressed the controversy surrounding her American Eagle jeans advert,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335162,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[236,88],"class_list":{"0":"post-335161","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}