Donald Trump has given Sydney Sweeney‘s viral American Eagle ads the thumbs-up after reports that the Euphoria actress is a GOP supporter.
The U.S. president was asked about Sweeney by a journalist as he boarded Marine One on Sunday after The Guardian newspaper reported that she registered as a Republican voter in Florida a few months before Trump returned to the White House.
Trump smiled and said: “She’s a registered Republican? Oh. Now I love her ad! Is that right? Sydney Sweeney … You’d be surprised at how many people are Republicans.” He added: “If Sydney Sweeney is a registered Republican, I think her ad is fantastic.”
Sweeney’s “great genes/jeans” American Eagle ads have been the source of wildly viral social media conversation for days, with the internet divided over the contents of the commercials. Sweeney has said next to nothing about the discourse. She appeared in public for the first time since the uproar began on Sunday at the Los Angeles screening of Americana.
The ads were criticized for promoting eugenics, with Sweeney intoning: “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color. My jeans are blue.” The likes of rapper Doja Cat mocked the commercial.
The concerns over subliminal white supremacy prompted an enormous backlash in conservative circles, including from Vice President JD Vance. “My political advice to the Democrats is continue to [call] everybody who thinks Sydney Sweeney is attractive a Nazi,” Vance said during an episode of the Ruthless podcast.
Piers Morgan, a friend of Trump, said: “The Sydney Sweeney furore perfectly epitomises why the woke left is so bonkers. They call everyone a Nazi or white supremacist, even when she’s obviously neither, and they hate women celebrating beauty & sex appeal. It’s why woke is dead – we all just laugh at their idiocy now.”
American Eagle stood by the ads. “‘Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans’ is and always was about the jeans,” the company posted. “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.”
