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Sydney Sweeney is finally addressing the controversy surrounding her American Eagle jeans campaign!
You may recall that back in July, the actress teamed up with the clothing company for the now-infamous “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans” ad campaign. She quickly came under fire after it launched, with social media users calling out the play on “great genes.” For instance, she said in one ad:
“Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color. My jeans are blue.”
Many people accused Sydney and American Eagle of promoting eugenics — “the practice or advocacy of controlled selective breeding of human populations (as by sterilization) to improve the populations’ genetic composition,” per Merriam-Webster. When you have a White, blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman as the face of the campaign, it comes across as the brand is promoting those specific genes only, the same ideology as Hitler, which is extremely problematic.
And that wasn’t the only issue people had with the ad! Part of the collaboration saw the Euphoria star create “The Sydney Jean,” which featured a buttery motif on the back pocket to represent domestic violence awareness, a cause she is passionate about. Because of that, she planned to donate all proceeds from the jean sales to a non-profit organization. It’s admirable. However, fans didn’t appreciate how the company executed the ad. They called it “tone deaf,” slamming Sydney for sexualizing herself while supporting such a serious subject matter.
The campaign had a lot of problems overall, so you can understand why folks had a lot to say about it. Heck, even Donald Trump spoke out, unsurprisingly, in support of the campaign since Sydney’s a registered Republican. Meanwhile, American Eagle hit back at the criticism, insisting that the ad “is and always was about the jeans,” and nothing more. But what does Sydney have to say for herself? The Madame Web star remained silent on the issue for months, but she is finally speaking out… and not giving us much!
When asked by GQ in a new interview published on Tuesday if she was surprised by the response to the ad campaign, she replied:
“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.”
That’s it? She’s not going to say one word about the eugenics promotion accusations and instead talk about her love of jeans? The Immaculate star went on to express how “it was surreal” to have the president and vice president praise the ad. When pressed if she felt thankful to have powerful people back her up amid the intense backlash, Sydney explained she really didn’t pay much mind to all the chatter surrounding the campaign:
“I don’t think…. It’s not that I didn’t have that feeling, but I wasn’t thinking of it like that, of any of it. I kind of just put my phone away. 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.”
Hmm.
At the moment, Sydney is promoting Christy, her new biopic about former professional boxer Christy Martin. And given all the controversy surrounding the star lately, one may think she is worried that people will avoid the film, just like her other project Americana. However, she insists she is not! She said:
“No, I think that if somebody is closed off because of something they read online to a powerful story like Christy, then I hope that something else can open their eyes to being open to art and being open to learning, and I’m not going to be affected by that.”
GQ then gave Sydney one last opportunity to explain herself… and she didn’t take it. The outlet asked if there is “something that you want to say about the ad itself,” specifically about the comments on how “white people shouldn’t joke about genetic superiority.” To which, she responded:
“I think that when I have an issue that I want to speak about, people will hear.”
And Sydney apparently doesn’t want to speak much about this American Eagle ad issue. Wow. Reactions, Perezcious readers? Sound OFF in the comments!
[Image via American Eagle/Good Morning America/YouTube]
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