Sydney Sweeney speaks out on ‘MAGA Barbie’ label
Sydney Sweeney is responding to online discourse that dubbed her “MAGA Barbie” in the wake of a controversial denim ad.
In a new interview with Cosmopolitan, “The Housemaid” star, 28, hit back at commenters who she said have made assumptions about her political leanings.
“I’ve never been here to talk about politics. I’ve always been here to make art, so this is just not a conversation I want to be at the forefront of,” Sweeney told the outlet. Many have cast the actress as a conservative, particularly after a jeans ad she shot for American Eagle drew hard criticism from some and was fiercely defended by President Trump, Vice President JD Vance and others. The ad was characterized by some as promoting white supremacist ideology for uplifting her “good genes” (and “good jeans,” a play on words) as a blue-eyed, blonde woman.
“People want to take it even further and use me as their own pawn,” Sweeney told Cosmo. “But it’s somebody else assigning something to me, and I can’t control that.”
On why she wouldn’t set the record straight about what she believes, Sweeney said she just didn’t want to play into the conversation at all.
“I haven’t figured it out. I’m not a hateful person. If I say, ‘That’s not true,’ they’ll come at me like, ‘You’re just saying that to look better.’ There’s no winning. There’s never any winning,” she said.
“I just have to continue being who I am, because I know who I am,” Sweeney continued. “I can’t make everyone love me. I know what I stand for.”
Sweeney’s interview comes as she launches a new lingerie brand, Syrn, just the latest in a string of commercial grabs. With 2025 film roles both in the box office flop “Christy” and the thriller “The Housemaid,” the actress remained booked and busy.
Both the American Eagle jeans ad, which critics lambasted for its play on “good genes,” and a campaign for Dr. Squatch soap, allegedly containing her real bath water, sparked conversation over using her celebrity as a frequent branding opportunity.