Overview

• American Eagle’s “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans” campaign drew accusations on social media that its pun on “genes” and “jeans” evoked eugenics and white supremacist ideology.
• Tech and entertainment figures publicly dismissed the uproar, with Elon Musk sharing a video of a Tesla robot rubbing jeans on a seat and Stephen Colbert labeling the eugenics claims “a bit of an overreaction.”
• White House Communications Director Steven Cheung described the backlash as “cancel culture run amok” and branded critics’ arguments “bull****.”
• Neither Sydney Sweeney nor American Eagle Outfitters has offered a public statement on the debate.
• American Eagle’s stock has risen about 4 percent since the ad’s launch, reflecting commercial momentum despite ongoing online criticism.