Sydney Sweeney has finally spoken out about her controversial American Eagle jeans campaign and the support she received from US President Donald Trump.
The denim brand and Sweeney both received criticism for the controversial ad which was considered tone deaf by many due to its “great jeans” tagline and perceived allusion to eugenics.
Speaking to GQ for a cover story interview, the actress admitted she was “surprised” by the response to the campaign.
“I did a jean ad. I mean, the reaction definitely was a surprise, but I love jeans,” she told the publication.
“All I wear are jeans. I’m literally in jeans and a T-shirt every day of my life.”
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Sweeney also said “it was surreal” to have Trump himself comment on the controversy.
During the height of the backlash to the ad in August, Trump praised the actress and her ad after learning that she is a registered republican.
“She’s a registered Republican? Oh, immediately I love her ad,” Trump told reporters while boarding Air Force One.
“If Sydney Sweeney is a registered Republican, I think her ad is fantastic,” he added.
Later in a post to his Truth Social account, Trump doubled down on his praise, calling the campaign “the HOTTEST ad out there” while misspelling Sweeney’s first name.
Later in the GQ interview, Sweeney was asked if she felt “thankful” that “some very powerful people” had her back in public to which Sweeney gave a muted response.
“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,” she said, revealing that she was too busy to be caught up with the wide-reaching conversation.
“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.”
The interviewer continued to press asking if she had something she wanted to say about the “ad itself” given the current “political climate” and the tone of the ad.
“I think that when I have an issue that I want to speak about, people will hear,” she responded.
Sweeney’s comments come after she kept mum on the controversy for several months.
Back in September, she told Vanity Fair that she had no intentions on answering questions about the advertisement.
“I am there to support my movie and the people involved in making it, and I’m not there to talk about jeans,” she told the publication.
In the wake of the backlash, American Eagle doubled down on its campaign strategy sharing a statement to Instagram.
“‘Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans’ is and always was about the jeans,” the statement read.
“Her jeans. Her story.”
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