Sydney Sweeney confirmed as Republican —jeans ad still triggering the woke
Everybody is still talking about that Sydney Sweeney jeans ad. In fact, there’s a new dynamic to this whole controversy, now that multiple news outlets have confirmed the actress is in fact a registered Republican. Sweeney has been registered as a Republican in Florida since June 2024.
Why does this matter at all? Well, it really doesn’t, except some liberals are probably treating this as evidence that the jeans ad really was promoting fascism or white supremacy, or something, now that they know Sweeney is a Republican.
Here’s the ad once more, if for some reason you’ve been living under a rock and have somehow missed the whole kerfuffle:
While there’s absolutely nothing groundbreaking about using an attractive woman to sell a product — in particular clothing — some joy-killing liberals on social media reacted negatively to this ad, claiming that Sweeney’s appeal to genetics is a racist dog-whistle. By calling attention to her blond hair and blue eyes, she was promoting the idea that blond haired, blued eyed white people represent the ideal beauty standard.
Now, I know what you’re about to say: Just because a couple of people were outraged about something doesn’t mean this is really happening. It’s wrong to impute the absurd opinions a few random internet account to a population or a movement at large. Just as it’s wrong to accuse all Republicans of being racist just because one possibly rightwing X account was mad about a black actress being cast as the Little Mermaid, it's also wrong to say all liberals are triggered by this ad. It was just a few people ... well, at least it was at first.
Since then, major mainstream liberal commentators have weighed in, and you can no longer make the case that no real person was actually offended by the ad. The Washington Post published this headline: “How American Eagle’s Sydney Sweeney ‘good jeans’ ad went wrong,” which clearly gives credence to the idea that there’s something sinister about the ad.
Similarly, NBC News recognized that there’s an outcry from irate woke liberals, writing “American Eagle sparks backlash for touting Sydney Sweeney's 'great jeans.'”
The Atlantic’s article about the controversy laments that people are fighting about the ad, and especially that conservatives are championing it. But the writer essentially endorses the liberal freakout, writing that it’s understandable why liberals would see this ad as part of an “unbridled shift toward cultural whiteness.”
And progressive commentator Marc Lamont Hill certainly seemed upset about the ad. Here he was on Piers Morgan:
My point is that conservatives are being accused of making a mountain out of a molehill: "There’s a Woke War on Sydney Sweeney!" But if you look at what the progressive liberals are actually saying, it does seem to me like a lot of them were genuinely triggered by the ad.
American Eagle, to its credit, isn’t apologizing — it is standing by the ad. Done for now are the days where corporations would bend the knee to the offended wokesters. If anything, this controversy Is probably good for business, though I seriously doubt the company had any idea what was about to happen.
That’s because the concept of having good genes is not political. Genetics is real! And importantly, the concept of genetics can be separated entirely from the concept of race. Saying that this specific white woman has good genetic and pleasing aesthetic attributes does not mean that only white women have good genetics or pleasing aesthetic attributes.
Just because beauty, intelligence, and other human traits are genetically inherited does not mean that they are racially exclusive. And of course, all human beings have equal worth and rights and dignity, regardless of whether they are attractive and intelligent.
As for Sweeney being a Republican, I for one have gotten used to my politics not being well represented by actors and actresses in liberal Hollywood — but I can separate art and artist. Liberals should learn to do the same.
Robby Soave is co-host of The Hill’s commentary show “Rising” and a senior editor for Reason Magazine. This column is an edited transcription of his on-air commentary.