Slate is proclaiming, The Sydney Sweeney Backlash Has Begun (It Was Inevitable). Was it though? The actress has certainly had an ... interesting last couple of weeks.
Thanks to scribes at such outlets as The Washington Post, Salon, GMA and MSNBC, Sweeney’s recent American Eagle jeans ad was being dragged by some as “racist” and “regressive.” The entire scandal boiled down to this: Sweeney’s a blonde, blue-eyed white woman, and the AE ad played on the pun “great genes,” which she tweaks to “great jeans.”
Keyboard warriors kept insisting the ad was a sneaky celebration of genetic “superiority” and eugenics, demanding AE pull the campaign, and there were even calls for a boycott. It came to the point where “white supremacist” accusations started circling around. Over on ABC’s “GMA First Look,” a professor equated “good jeans” with early 20th-century racism, calling the ad “weaponized White supremacism.” lol.
I initially stayed away from writing about this because, frankly, it was dumb outrage then, and it’s still dumb outrage now. However, there’s a legitimate angle. Over the weekend, Public records were uncovered showing that Sydney Bernice Sweeney registered as a Republican voter in June 2024 — a detail since confirmed by outlets like Entertainment Weekly and PEOPLE — and, unsurprisingly, fresh backlash has followed since.
To make matters even more combustible, Donald Trump has now weighed in, praising Sweeney by name: “If Sydney Sweeney is a registered Republican, I think her ad is fantastic,” he said, calling it the “hottest” commercial.
As someone who follows the awards circuit, my first thought was: there goes her Oscar campaign for “Christy.” If you didn’t know, Sweeney is starring in David Michôd’s boxing biopic about Christy Martin, which is set to premiere at TIFF this September. It’s exactly the kind of physically transformative, real-life performance that festivals, and voters, tend to eat up. Sweeney reportedly gained over 30 pounds for the role. That’s a narrative.
However, in Hollywood, there’s no name more toxic than Donald Trump. And now that his stamp of approval is on her, Sweeney risks being framed as politically radioactive — whether fairly or not. This industry is a delicate machine, and once the culture war sharks start circling, it becomes harder to steer the conversation back to the work itself.
I have no doubt Hollywood is about to turn on her. Registering as a Republican in this climate? In this industry? That’s a self-inflicted wound, whether she sees it that way or not. Her PR team is almost certainly in full-blown damage control mode, scrambling behind the scenes, trying to get ahead of the narrative before it spins completely out of control.
There was a time when political affiliation didn’t carry as much weight in Hollywood, but that changed with Trump. Since then, most conservative actors have chosen to keep quiet, with only a handful — like Sylvester Stallone, Dennis Quaid, Scott Baio, Kevin Sorbo, Jon Voight, Zachary Levi and Rob Schneider — showing open support. Unsurprisingly, many of them have since found themselves pushed to the margins, working largely in B-movie or Christian genre territory.
Sweeney has chosen to stay silent on these recent controversies, opting not to issue any public statements. It could be the smart move—anything she says is likely to be misinterpreted, and no side would come out ahead. That said, she will eventually need to face the press for “Christy” when it premieres next month. Once the trailer drops and this project becomes more visible, expect a wave of online backlash, and it won’t be subtle. Unless she comes out with a statement or some carefully crafted piece of messaging, this thing could snowball. It’s a volatile moment.
This controversy is the kind of baggage that can sink almost any other actress. Will Sweeney weather this storm? Depends on how much goodwill she’s built in the industry and whether people can separate her work from her politics. If things escalate, projects could quietly be delayed or retooled. Her career is obviously far from over, but the next few months will be crucial.
