Sydney Sweeney Breaks Silence on American Eagle Jeans Controversy

Sydney Sweeney is lastly commenting on one of many yr’s silliest controversies: Backlash towards the Euphoria star’s American Eagle denims advert.

Sweeney spoke out concerning the uproar, which made headlines over the summer time and noticed everybody from Donald Trump to fellow celebrities to late-night hosts weighing in.

“I did a jean ad,” Sweeney told GQ. “I mean, the reaction definitely was a surprise, but I love jeans. All I wear are jeans. I’m literally in jeans and a T-shirt every day of my life.”

Sweeney added that “it was surreal” to have so many individuals, just like the president, sounding off.

“I kind of just put my phone away,” she stated. “I was filming every day. I’m filming Euphoria, so I’m working 16-hour days and 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 … 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.”

Sweeney famous she didn’t concern an announcement responding to the criticism on the time as a result of “I’ve always believed that I’m not here to tell people what to think … when I have an issue that I want to speak about, people will hear.”

“I know who I am,” she stated. “I know what I value. I know that I’m a kind person. 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.”

Despite the controversy — or maybe due to it — American Eagle gross sales improved through the second quarter and the corporate’s inventory value jumped 25 % after the corporate crushed Wall Street estimates. CEO Jay Schottenstein cited “the success of recent marketing campaigns with Sydney Sweeney and Travis Kelce” as an enormous purpose why, producing some 40 billion impressions and a “meaningful improvement in the business.”

Sweeney revealed she really knew the advert was working in actual time. “I was aware of the numbers as it was going,” she stated. “So when I saw all the headlines [claiming] in-store visits were down a certain percentage, none of it was true. It was all made up, but nobody could say anything because [the company was] in their quiet period.”

The “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans” advert debuted in late July and shortly turned a tradition warfare debate, notably over a clip that had Sweeney saying, “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color. My jeans are blue.”

Because Sweeney has blonde hair and blue eyes, customers claimed that the advert was designed to advertise eugenics or was a nod to Nazi propaganda — regardless of American Eagle having a Jewish CEO on the helm and a protracted historical past of inclusive promoting. “It is one of the loudest and most obvious racialized dog whistles we’ve seen and heard in a while,” alleged a lady on TikTok.

Others dismissed the backlash by chalking it as much as fake outrage from a technology that’s too on-line in search of causes to really feel offended. “The hate is exhausting,” wrote one other person on TikTok. “Y’all are mad at Sydney Sweeney because she’s white, she’s blonde, she’s blue-eyed and she looks good. I am DEI’d out.”

American Eagle was simply one in all Sweeney’s latest model offers. Earlier this summer time, she bought her literal bathwater as a part of a cleaning soap system for Dr. Squatch. She additionally has offers with Armani Beauty, Miu Miu, Laneige, HeyDude, Bai, Baskin Robbins and Ford. She is reportedly launching a lingerie model backed by Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez.