Months on from the controversy surrounding her American Eagle ad, Sydney Sweeney has reflected on the reaction and suggested it was a “surprise” to see how much it was blown out of proportion.
In a new profile feature with GQ, the Euphoria star was asked about the reaction to the ad, which even made its way to President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance. “I did a jean ad. I mean, the reaction definitely was a surprise,” she said. “But I love jeans. All I wear are jeans. I’m literally in jeans and a T-shirt every day of my life.”
Sweeney explained that it was “surreal” to see Vance and Trump chiming in on the controversy over the ad, which featured a double entendre of “great jeans” and “great genes.” She added that she didn’t really pay attention to all the reaction around it.
“I kind of just put my phone away. I was filming every day,” she said. “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.” She was asked if there was anything specific she wanted to address with the ad, especially during such a tense political moment in the United States. “I think that when I have an issue that I want to speak about, people will hear,” she said.
American Eagle shares jumped around 38 percent following the debut of the ad, while Trump called it “the hottest ad ever.” There was a lot of criticism about whether it joked about genetic superiority, especially since it was led by a conventionally attractive, white blonde woman.
“I was aware of the numbers as it was going,” she continued. “So when I saw all the headlines of 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. So it was all just a lot of talk. And because 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.”
