Sydney Sweeney Reflects On American Eagle Jeans Advert Controversy
Sydney Sweeney has finally directly addressed the controversy surrounding her recent “great jeans” American Eagle ad campaign
The Euphoria star has said she was “surprised by the reaction” to the advert after spending months mostly swerving questions about the media storm, and conceded that her silence on the matter had potentially “widened the divide” between people in a particularly turbulent time.
When it landed over the summer, the American Eagle campaign was accused of being tone deaf for centring a white, blue-eyed, blonde model with the tagline and pun: “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans”.
Some critics went as far as saying this mirrored the language of white supremacists and eugenicists, pointing out it was particularly dangerous in the current political climate.
Meanwhile Donald Trump described it as “the hottest ad out there” and referenced Sydney’s apparent registered status as a Republican.
In a new interview with People, Sydney claimed she did the ad in question “because I love the jeans and love the brand.”
She insisted: “I don’t support the views some people chose to connect to the campaign. Many have assigned motives and labels to me that just aren’t true.”
The Emmy nominee continued that she is “always trying to bring people together” and that she is “against hate and divisiveness”.
“In the past my stance has been to never respond to negative or positive press but recently I have come to realise that my silence regarding this issue has only widened the divide, not closed it,” she said.
“So, I hope this new year brings more focus on what connects us instead of what divides us.”
Last month, Sydney said the ad “spoke for itself” in an interview with GQ where she was directly asked if she wanted to address the criticism and the sentiment that white people shouldn’t joke about genetic superiority.
The former White Lotus actor batted away the question and responded: “When I have an issue that I wanna speak about, people will hear.”