Sydney Sweeney is finally addressing the firestorm surrounding her controversial American Eagle campaign — and she’s not backing down.
In a new interview with GQ, the Euphoria star described the whirlwind of criticism — and the political attention it drew — as “surreal.” Asked what it was like to see President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance weigh in, Sweeney said simply, “Surreal.”
Reports claiming American Eagle’s business suffered from the backlash, she added, were flat-out false. “I was aware of the numbers as it was going,” she said. “When I saw all the headlines saying in-store visits were down, none of it was true. It was all made up. [The company] couldn’t say anything because they were in their quiet period. But I knew the ad was about great jeans — that’s it. So it didn’t affect me.”
When pressed on whether she wanted to clarify the ad’s message — criticized by some for using the phrase “good genes” in a way that critics called racially tone-deaf — Sweeney demurred. “I think that when I have an issue I want to speak about, people will hear,” she said. She also revealed she largely avoided the online chaos, saying, “I didn’t really see a lot of it. I put my phone away and kept working.”
The ad featured Sweeney in a playful denim spot where she said, “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color. My jeans are blue.” The pun infuriated some social media users, who accused it of “eugenics undertones.”
American Eagle stood by the actress, issuing a simple response: “‘Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans’ is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans. Her story. We’ll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone.”
Trump, however, publicly praised the actress once he learned she’s a registered Republican. “Oh, now I love her ad,” he said in August. “If Sydney Sweeney is a registered Republican, I think her ad is fantastic.”
Vice President JD Vance also mocked the backlash on the Ruthless podcast: “My political advice to the Democrats is: continue to tell everybody who thinks Sydney Sweeney is attractive is a Nazi,” he joked. “She’s a normal all-American girl doing a normal jeans ad — and they’ve completely lost it.”
Despite the uproar, Sweeney appears unbothered — choosing to let her work, and her wardrobe, speak for itself.