Sydney Sweeney says she put her phone away during the American Eagle jeans ad controversy

Abby Hughes · CBC News

· Posted: Nov 04, 2025 5:09 PM EST | Last Updated: November 4

Months aft Sydney Sweeney showed disconnected her jeans successful an American Eagle ad, the histrion is yet speaking astir the contention it created — astatine least, benignant of.

In an interrogation with GQ, the Euphoria and White Lotus histrion stood by the advertisement portion downplaying however overmuch attraction she paid to the net back-and-forth that ensued.

“I did a jean ad. I mean, the absorption decidedly was a surprise, but I emotion jeans. All I deterioration are jeans. I’m virtually successful jeans and a T-shirt each time of my life,” Sweeney told the magazine.

In the ad, Sweeney makes a play connected words betwixt jeans (the covering item) and genes (the familial material), which immoderate net users work arsenic having eugenicist undertones. Eugenics is simply a discredited thought that the quality contention could beryllium improved by selectively breeding for definite traits.

“Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits similar hairsbreadth color, property and adjacent oculus color. My jeans are blue,” Sweeney says successful the ad.

WATCH | What Sydney Sweeney's jeans advertisement says astir the brand's marketing:

American Eagle responded to the backlash astatine the time, saying the advertisement was conscionable astir jeans, not astir genetics.

“We’ll proceed to observe however everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look bully connected everyone,” the institution said successful an Instagram post.

But Sweeney stayed soundless contempt overmuch media sum and online statement — adjacent aft U.S. President Donald Trump called it the “HOTTEST advertisement retired there” and Vice-President JD Vance addressed it. 

“It was surreal,” Sweeney said, of the information that the president and the vice-president responded.

The histrion besides told GQ she was “aware of the numbers” erstwhile American Eagle’s banal rallied aft the advertisement came retired and again connected Sept. 4, a time aft a institution net telephone successful which the institution credited the advertisement with boosting their income and attracting caller customers. 

But speech from that, Sweeney said she missed overmuch of the societal media backlash.

“I benignant of conscionable enactment my telephone away. I was filming each day. I’m filming Euphoria, truthful I’m moving 16-hour days and I don’t truly bring my telephone connected set, truthful I enactment and past I spell location and I spell to sleep. So I didn’t truly spot a batch of it,” Sweeney said.

Sweeney and boxer Christy Martin locomotion the reddish carpet for the TIFF premier of Christy successful Toronto connected Sept. 5. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)

The histrion has 2 forthcoming films, including Christy, a biography astir pistillate pro boxer Christy Martin’s vocation and acquisition with home violence, premiered astatine the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this year. 

When asked if she thought the contention surrounding her mightiness crook immoderate viewers distant from seeing Christy and proceeding its messages astir home violence, Sweeney said she wasn’t disquieted astir that. “If idiosyncratic is closed disconnected due to the fact that of thing they work online … past I anticipation that thing other tin unfastened their eyes,” she said.