Sydney Sweeney Finally Breaks Silence After American Eagle Ad Backlash

The "Euphoria" actor said she was “honestly surprised” by the public’s reaction to the ad.

Actor Sydney Sweeney is speaking out about the controversy surrounding her American Eagle denim ad, and now claims to have a different perspective on the fallout.

Sweeney, who has blue eyes and blonde hair, appeared in a “great jeans” campaign for the clothing company in July that included an ad with a play on the words “jeans” and “genes.”

In one ad, Sweeney said, “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color. My jeans are blue.”

Social media users slammed the ad’s wordplay, arguing that it had white supremacist undertones and could be interpreted as a wink to eugenics, the racist and inaccurate theory that human genetics can be improved through selective and controlled breeding of populations.

President Donald Trump and other members of his administration praised Sweeney in the wake of the online backlash. Not long after, she was outed as a registered Republican.