Sydney Sweeney speaks for the first time about the shitstorm surrounding her denim campaign with American Eagle, accusations of racism and Trump’s public support.
An American Eagle advertising campaign starring Sydney Sweeney caused a stir online in July 2025. The actress promoted the fashion brand’s denim products with the slogan “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans”. The saying deliberately plays with the ambiguity of the English word “jeans” and “genes”, in German “Gene”. In an interview, Sweeney spoke for the first time about the campaign, the racism allegations and the surprising support for Trump.
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Hesitant, short or evasive answers
The interview with Sydney Sweeney took place at the Chateau Marmont Hotel in California. The occasion was her cover story for the “Man of the Year” issue of GQ in November. In an interview with Katherine Stoeffel, Sweeney spoke about her upcoming film projects “Christy” and “The Housemaid.” She also answered questions for the first time about the controversial denim campaign, which caused a shitstorm in the middle of the year. The actress took her time, but still gave short or evasive answers.
Was it just a jeans commercial?
In the conversation, the 28-year-old explained that she always takes a stand on issues that are close to her heart – but through her art, through the films she takes part in and the roles she takes on. This is her form of communication, she added. Stoeffel noted that Sweeney’s previous roles have not been explicitly political and asked if she was surprised to have become involved in a political debate in a different way – a nod to the campaign. The actress’ response was, “I did a jeans ad. The reaction to it was definitely a surprise, but I love jeans. I only wear jeans. I literally wear jeans and a t-shirt every day of my life.”
Trump’s support came as a surprise
The fact that Donald Trump publicly agreed with her during the controversy was “surreal” for her. However, she noticed little of the debate because she was working on the third season of the series “Euphoria” at the time.
When asked directly about the campaign and the accusations of racism, the actress simply had to say: “The advertising campaign speaks for itself. If an issue comes up that I want to talk about, people will notice.”
Watch the full interview here:
Shitstorm recap
ME author Jan Kremer wrote about the shitstorm: “In one spot, Sweeney can be seen dressed in jeans, walking towards a billboard that shows the words “Genes”. She crosses this out and replaces it with “jeans”. In another clip, she lies on her back and lasciviously pulls up her pants while a voiceover talks about genetic characteristics such as hair color and eye color. Finally, Sweeney says: “My jeans are blue.”
Both the fashion company and the actress were accused of racism in the advertising clips. American Eagle responded promptly with an Instagram statement. The company claimed that the spots were about Jean and Sweeney’s story. Jeans look “great” on everyone, the fashion company concluded the statement. There was silence from the actress until the end.