Sydney Sweeney has just spoken out about her controversial American Eagle advert for the very first time.
In July, Sydney starred in an American Eagle campaign titled Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans. The advert’s “jeans” word-play divided fans and put the Euphoria star at the center of a social media controversy. Some accused the brand of promoting eugenics by having a blonde, blue-eyed Sydney talk about “good genes”. Others, like White House communications manager Steven Cheung, called the backlash an example of cancel culture.
Sydney Sweeney says her American Eagle ad backlash felt “surreal”
Months on, Sydney has broken her silence on the American Eagle backlash. “I’ve always believed that I’m not here to tell people what to think,” she told GQ when asked about it. “I’m just here to kind of open their eyes to different ideas.”
Diving deeper, Sydney said she didn’t feel the need to address the situation publicly. “I’ll vent to my girlfriends. But other than that, no,” she admitted. “I know who I am. I know what I value.”
The actor continued: “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.”
Going deeper still, Sydney was asked if she wanted to address the “genetic superiority” criticism of the campaign directly. “I think that when I have an issue that I want to speak about, people will hear [from me],” she replied.
Reacting to how political figures like Donald Trump got involved, Sydney said it “was surreal”. However, the actor tried not to pay too much attention to what was going on.
“I kind of just put my phone away,” she explained. “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.”
Sydney continued: “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.”
TELL US – WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE AMERICAN EAGLE CAMPAIGN? AND, SHOULD SYDNEY SWEENEY HAVE COMMENTED ON IT SOONER?
