Sydney Sweeney channels 'Americana' on red carpet amid American Eagle ad drama
Sydney Sweeney isn't letting controversy get in the way of her latest red carpet event.
On Sunday, Aug. 3, the "Euphoria" star stepped out at a screening of her new movie "Americana" in Los Angeles amid backlash to her controversial American Eagle jeans ad.
Sweeney, 27, wore a pale yellow dress and matching headband at the screening of her upcoming crime thriller "Americana." Sweeney stars as a waitress who teams up with a military veteran (Paul Walter Hauser) to gain possession of a Native American artifact, per the studio's synopsis. Eric Dane (Sweeney's "Euphoria" costar), Halsey and Simon Rex also star in the film, which is set for release on Aug. 15. It originally premiered at the South by Southwest festival in 2023.
The red carpet came after days of discourse around Sweeney for her role in an ad campaign for American Eagle jeans, dubbed "Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans."
The campaign used the wordplay of jeans and genes being homophones, and one of the ads features the actress clad in denim telling the camera, "Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color. My jeans are blue." Text then comes up on screen that says, "Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans."
Some critics objected to the ad, arguing it was putting forth a conventionally attractive, blonde, white woman with blue eyes as the archetype of good genes. "Something about an ad sexualising a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes while commenting that she has great 'jeans' feels extremely conservative especially in this political climate," read one X post, which drew more than 200,000 likes.
Others have come out in defense of the ad and mocked the online backlash, including politicians like Vice President JD Vance. "My political advice to the Democrats is continue to (call) everybody who thinks Sydney Sweeney is attractive is a Nazi," he joked on the conservative "Ruthless" podcast.
Even President Donald Trump has weighed in. In an Aug. 4 post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump applauded Sweeney for having "the 'HOTTEST' ad out there," adding, "Go get 'em Sydney!"
Sweeney has yet to respond to the controversy, but American Eagle defended itself in an Instagram post on Aug. 1. The company said that its advertising campaign with Sweeney "is and always was about the jeans," adding, "We'll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone."
The "Anyone But You" actress is no stranger to making waves with some headline-grabbing marketing. In May, Sweeney drew mixed reactions after she collaborated with Dr. Squatch to sell a soap that was advertised as being infused with her bathwater.
Contributing: Anna Kaufman and Melina Khan