Sydney Sweeney’s Latest Controversy Unpacked

 

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Sydney Sweeney’s political affiliation, which has been the topic of online discourse for years, has finally been addressed. Kind of…

Who knew that a mere advertisement about denim trousers could make headlines? Well, in this case, it was no surprise. The ‘Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans’ American Eagle campaign turned lots of heads from the moment it aired and given the state today’s political climate it caused even more of a stir.

The play-on-words and innuendos of this advertisement were deemed to encourage eugenics, ultimately making Sydney Sweeney the poster girl for such. The nature of this ad highlighted the intensity of online politics and Sydney’s silence on the matter only made it worse.

 

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The whole ordeal was a complete mess, with the lines between ‘jeans’ and ‘genes’ only becoming more obscure. While this advertisement and campaign would have had to be approved by a series of execs, it makes us question how it was given the green light.

Thanks to these undertones, Sydney then became something of a ‘MAGA darling’ and the Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans’ campaign was in perfect alignment with the ideology of right-wing extremists. With no comment from Sydney, this narrative continued to spiral out of control, raising further questions of her political affiliation.

 

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With the release of her new film Christy, which many saw as an opportunity for the actress to break out of her current type-cast – Sydney has made many public appearances as part of the film’s promotion. Then comes last week’s interview with GQ, which seemed like the perfect opportunity to clear up any misconceptions with complete transparency.

While you’d expect a celebrity to jump at this chance to clarify and set the record straight in relation to certain controversies, it seems that this was not Sydney’s intention for this interview.

 

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When asked if she was surprised by the reaction to the American Eagle ad, Sydney responded, “I did a jean ad. 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.”

This way of pushing the agenda that the topic on hand is ‘jeans’ and not ‘genes’, once again made people question where she stands. Not to mention, Sydney simply found it “surreal” that the president spoke about the jeans ad, acknowledging the type of audience it appealed to, but not actually  addressing it.

 

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When asked to comment on the ad and the criticism in relation to how “specifically in this political climate, white people shouldn’t joke about genetic superiority” Sydney replied: “I think that when I have an issue that I want to speak about, people will hear.”

Yikes. While this question was an easy way out in denying the intent of the ad, Sydney insisted on walking around the subject. In doing so, Sydney has made it clear that she’s set on pandering to a right-wing audience, shifting her respectability as an actress.

However, it’s become evident that the extremist voices who have shown her support regarding this ordeal only exist in droves online. Her current associations won’t translate to box office success for the actress, as seen in the numbers from Christy’s opening weekend in theatres. Her moves as this type of ‘political puppet’ certainly won’t do her any justice on the big screen…

Words by Leah Foran