What was Sydney Sweeney MAGA party controversy? Viral post explored amid American Eagle ad backlash

Sydney Sweeney is the face of American Eagle’s new ad campaign, which is trending online for the wrong reasons. The latest series of advertisements for jeans is under scrutiny on social media for their tagline:

“Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans.”

X users, primarily liberals, are criticizing the advertising campaign for its racial undertones, while some have called the tagline a dog whistle. In one of the promotional videos, Sweeney is seen painting over her poster, in which the word “Genes” was struck through and replaced with “Jeans.” Many took to the comments on the Instagram Reel to criticize American Eagle.

It is not the first time Sydney Sweeney has received backlash from liberals. In August 2022, the Euphoria actress and her brother, Trent, posted carousels of images on their respective Instagram accounts. The pictures they shared were from their mother’s 60th birthday party. However, multiple guests wearing MAGA-style hats ignited a controversy involving Sydney Sweeney.

You guys this is wild. An innocent celebration for my moms milestone 60th birthday has turned into an absurd political statement, which was not the intention. Please stop making assumptions. Much love to everyone ♥️ and Happy Birthday Mom!

— Sydney Sweeney (@sydney_sweeney) August 27, 2022

In reality, the message on the hats read “Make Sixty Great Again” instead of the “Make America Great Again” slogan associated with Trump supporters. Amid the backlash, Sydney Sweeney took to her X (formerly Twitter) account and wrote:

“You guys this is wild. An innocent celebration for my moms milestone 60th birthday has turned into an absurd political statement, which was not the intention. Please stop making assumptions. Much love to everyone ♥️ and Happy Birthday Mom!”

The Anyone But You actress also addressed the controversy during later interviews.

What did Sydney Sweeney say about the 2022 MAGA Hat controversy

The White Lotus Season 1 star shared her disappointment on X after receiving backlash on social media. While many continued to criticize Sweeney, she didn’t revisit the controversy until November 2022. During an interview with GQ, Sydney said:

“Honestly I feel like nothing I say can help the conversation. It’s been turning into a wildfire and nothing I can say will take it back to the correct track.”

After the controversy seemingly died down, Sydney Sweeney shared her thoughts again during an August 2023 interview with Variety. The Immaculate actor asserted that there were “many misinterpretations” regarding the hats some guests wore to her mother’s birthday get-together. She added,

“The people in the pictures weren’t even my family. The people who brought the things that people were upset about were actually my mom’s friends from L.A. who have kids that are walking outside in the Pride parade, and they thought it would be funny to wear because they were coming to Idaho.”

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Sydney Sweeney (@sydney_sweeney)

Almost three years after the “fake MAGA Hat” controversy, Sydney is again under fire for being the face of American Eagle’s new ad campaign. Many have shared their criticism of either the advertisements or the actress on X.

“If you're insisting the Sydney Sweeney ad isn't a dog whistle you're either disingenuous or stupid,” a user wrote.

“ohhhh haha like GENES!! i get it! she has good jeans like she has good GENES! hahahaha like in a n*zi way!! Totally!!!!!,” another user mocked the tagline.

“Sydney Sweeney x American Eagle with sound off: 😍😍😍😍😍 // Sydney Sweeney x American Eagle with sound on: [I am Adolf H*tler image],” someone remarked.

“something about an ad s*xualising a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes while commenting that she has great ‘jeans’ feels extremely conservative especially in this political climate,” another one added.

However, some X users came to Sydney Sweeney’s defense. A user wrote,

“I'm not sure how to say this nicely but if you think a jeans ad with a pun about Sydney Sweeney being pretty is a n*zi dogwhistle you genuinely need to put the phone down for a while.”

Another user said,

“Y'all it's not funny if you all make the exact same joke about the Sydney Sweeney ad”

As of this writing, American Eagle has yet to respond to the backlash. At the same time, Sydney Sweeney has continued to garner growing support from X users.