As โMadame Webโ star Sydney Sweeney remains mum on allegations of promoting eugenics via her American Eagle advertisement, she has seemingly stirred up even more support from far-right figures after recently gaining the favor of President Trump.
A black-and-yellow banner covering a billboard on the 91 Freeway in Corona boldly states: โProud Boys Love Sydney Sweeney,โ according to a photo that one Corona resident shared with ABC7.
The banner, which uses the neo-fascist groupโs signature colors, also references the hot-button American Eagle ad. โShe has the best blue genes,โ the banner says. Note โgenes,โ not โjeans.โ Itโs worth remembering that President Trump during a 2020 presidential debate ordered the Proud Boys to โstand back and stand byโ when pressed about condemning right-wing violent extremists.
Itโs unclear who put up the banner bearing the far-right groupโs name, according to ABC7.
A representative for Sweeney did not immediately respond to The Timesโ request for comment on Friday.
Earlier this month, jeans retailer American Eagle dropped a string of commercials for its latest campaign featuring the โEuphoriaโ star. In one advertisement, the Emmy-nominated actor who is blond says, โGenes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color. My jeans are blue,โ she says.
Posters for the American Eagle campaign also featured the totally innovative, never-before-seen wordplay on โjeansโ and genes.โ A slogan reads, โSydney Sweeney has great genes,โ with the final word crossed out and replaced with โjeans.โ
Sweeney, who seems to have a penchant for odd marketing opportunities, and the ads quickly faced criticism on social media, with users alleging the campaign leaned into the language of eugenics. Eugenics is a discredited practice that essentially touted the idea of improving the human race through selective breeding. It gained traction in the early 20th century and was used as a justification for Hitlerโs Nazi Germany to wipe out millions of Jewish people, and U.S. authorities to forcibly sterilize more than 60,000 people in California and more than 30 other states.
In an attempt to quell the ire, American Eagle posted a statement stating that its campaign โis and always was about the jeans.โ
Sweeney and the American Eagle campaign notably found support among the conservative crowd โ it wasnโt the first time for the 27-year-old โImmaculateโ actor. Days after the ad dropped, public records revealing her most recent voter registration history resurfaced, unveiling she registered as a Republican in June 2024. Trump found that irresistible to post about on his Truth Social platform.
โSydney Sweeney, a registered Republican, has the โHOTTESTโ ad out there. Itโs for American Eagle, and the jeans are โflying off the shelves.โ Go get โem Sydney!โ he posted Monday. In an earlier version of his post, Trump misspelled the actorโs name as โSidney Sweeney.โ
He also used the post to diss brands he claimed used โwokeโ marketing, including Jaguar and Bud Light. Trump also couldnโt resist throwing shade at pop star Taylor Swift, who openly endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential election.
Amid the fashion fracas and social media discourse, it seems neither Sweeney nor American Eagle had anything to lose.
Sweeney shrugged off her latest bout of controversy last week as she was spotted doing karaoke with some โEuphoriaโ co-stars in Santa Monica. She also hit the red carpet on Monday to promote her latest film, โAmericana,โ from writer-director Tony Tost.
American Eagle, on the other hand, saw its stock surge this week.
