Sydney Sweeney has spoken out about dealing with “online chatter” amid controversy regarding her “good jeans” for American Eagle.
The actress, 27, told the Wall Street Journal that she keeps a close eye on what is said about her online, partially crediting her success to the practice.
“I think it’s important to have a finger on the pulse of what people are saying, because everything is a conversation with the audience,” she said.
Sweeney, a natural blonde with blue eyes, was accused of promoting eugenics last month after her American Eagle ad went viral. Critics likened the wordplay to “Nazi propaganda,” while President Donald Trump and MAGA rushed to her defense.
The actress says in the ad, “Genes are passed down from parent to offspring, often determining traits like eye color, personality, and even hair color. My jeans are blue.”
Asked to react to the jeans outrage specifically, the Journal, which wrote a 1,100-word profile on the Euphoria and Anyone But You star, reports that Sweeney declined to comment. She also refused to say what her relationship is to Jeff Bezos and his wife, Lauren Sánchez, whose wedding she attended in June.
Fallout from Sweeney’s ad for American Eagle has been significant.
Her latest film, Americana, was a flop at the box office. It came in 16th place on Friday, its opening day, earning just $500,000 across over 1,100 theaters, reported the Hollywood Reporter.
The ordeal also made Sweeney’s voter registration—as a Republican in Florida, where she purchased a $13.5 million home last year on Summerland Key—go viral. The revelation led to right-wing accounts on social media boosting pictures and clips of the Washington native, including a video of her shooting a pistol at a firing range.
Chatter about Sweeney’s political leanings caught the eye of both Vice President JD Vance and Trump, both of whom weighed in on the matter.
“They’re trying to sell jeans to kids in America, and they have managed to unhinge themselves over this thing,” Vance said of the controversy. “And it’s like, you guys, did you learn nothing from the November 2024 election?”
Trump’s reaction was, not surprisingly, a bit less nuanced. He was thrilled to learn that Sweeney was a registered Republican after being told by a reporter this month.
Trump then doubled down with a post to Truth Social not long after.
“Sydney Sweeney, a registered Republican, has the HOTTEST ad out there,” he wrote. “Go get ‘em, Sydney!”
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