Sydney Sweeney Rejects Apology for 'Nazi' Jeans Ad, President Donald Trump Praised It

The controversy has been boiling since July 2025, but only now is Sydney Sweeney confronting the cultural firestorm head-on.

The actress, who has meticulously carved out a non-political space for her career, has firmly rejected demands for an apology over her American Eagle denim campaign, which critics called a 'dog whistle' for eugenics and white supremacy.

The campaign, featuring the tag line 'Sydney Sweeney has great jeans'—a cheeky play on the word 'genes'—became a political football overnight.

The subsequent backlash, which saw progressive groups label the blonde-haired, blue-eyed star's involvement as 'pro-Nazi,' only intensified the debate on whether pop culture should be divorced from politics.

Sweeney's response, finally delivered in a new profile, is one of cool defiance: she insists the uproar was 'surreal' and that she 'didn't affect me one way or the other.'

Sydney Sweeney and the Great Jeans Gold Rush

While critics were 'wringing their hands' over the racial implications of the campaign, American Eagle Outfitters and Sydney Sweeney were reaping massive financial rewards.

The controversy, rather than hurting the brand, actually drove a significant spike in sales, confirming that the actress's highly marketable image remains a business powerhouse.

• The company's stock jumped by a staggering 25% in after-hours trading following an earnings call that touted the success of her campaign.
• American Eagle's CEO, Jay Schottenstein, credited the campaign with a rise in customer awareness, engagement, and comparable sales.
• The jeans Sweeney promoted reportedly sold out within a week.
• The campaign was also cited for generating a 'staggering 40 billion impressions'.

Sweeney herself downplayed the rumours that the backlash had hurt the brand's performance, adding that she was 'aware of the numbers as it was going.' She noted that when she saw 'all the headlines of in-store visits were down a percentage, none of it was true.'

This focus on the campaign's financial success, rather than its political optics, has further frustrated those who expected a public apology.

Sydney Sweeney's Political Firestorm

The American Eagle ad quickly escalated into a political battleground, making Sydney Sweeney an unlikely figure in America's ongoing culture wars. The campaign gained national attention when prominent political figures weighed in.

• President Donald Trump publicly supported the actress on social media, calling the ad the 'HOTTEST' out there and saying, 'Go get 'em Sydney!'.
• Vice President JD Vance also publicly defended the ad, criticising progressives for turning a 'normal jeans ad' into a political issue.

In the midst of the firestorm, it was also widely reported that the Euphoria star was a registered Republican in Florida, a fact she has not directly addressed. Sweeney, however, made it clear in her GQinterview that her political affiliation has no bearing on her work.

'I did a jean ad,' Sweeney stated. She added that while the White House's attention was 'surreal,' she maintains a separation between her profession and politics: 'I've always believed that I'm not here to tell people what to think. I'm just here to kind of open their eyes to different ideas.'

Her stance is notably different from many Hollywood celebrities who routinely use their platform for political commentary. Sweeney's refusal to engage politically, stating she only speaks out when she truly has an issue she cares about, offers a potential shift in the celebrity-activism paradigm.