Tipsheet

Progressive Host Obliterates Left-Wingers Freaking Out Over Sydney Sweeney's Jeans Ad

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  July 30, 2025 6:55 AM

It’s an advertisement for jeans, not genes, you thick morons. Only the most mentally ill (and challenged) would think this is a racist ad from American Eagle. Actress Sydney Sweeney wears a pair of their jeans—that’s it. And now, she’s viewed as a member of the SS. The reaction has been extreme, unhinged, and almost cartoon-like; these cannot be real people. 

MSNBC penned MSNBC things about the ad, saying it “shows an unbridled cultural shift toward whiteness.” 

This week, American Eagle, which brought us baby tees and low-rise denim in the aughts, debuted an advertisement campaign starring actor Sydney Sweeney. Sweeney, 27, is featured doing all sorts of Americana things in her American Eagle denim — like leaning over the hood of a white Mustang or lying on the floor holding a long-haired German shepherd puppy. At the end of each video, an off-screen voice speaks over blocky letters declaring that Sweeney — blonde, blue-eyed and white — “has great jeans.” The wordplay was made even more explicit when American Eagle posted a video of Sweeney standing in front of a poster bearing her likeness with the word “genes” crossed out and replaced with “jeans.”

The backlash has been swift and fierce, and some of it, at least, if you ask me, is fair. The internet has been quick to condemn the advertisement as noninclusive at best and as overtly promoting “white supremacy” and “Nazi propaganda” at worst. These critics point to the copy and the implication of calling a white person superior because of their genes. In the videos, Sweeney exudes a sort of vintage sexiness that caters to the male gaze. She embodies the near mythological girl-next-door beautiful but low-maintenance sexy femininity that dominated media in the 1990s and the early 2000s. Together, the campaign feels regressive and not retro, offensive and not cheeky. 

First, what backlash, and TikTok doesn’t count. Talk about a piece that’s the definition of being ‘too online.’ These people haven’t learned. Social media isn’t real life, which is why so many were shell-shocked when Donald Trump bulldozed Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, when everyone who paid attention knew she was going to lose. There was a “backlash” over this ad—no one thought it was Nazi propaganda. Only you mental invalids did. It’s a jeans ad. The Young Turks co-host Cenk Uygur, a progressive, was warning his side that this isn’t the hill to die on. It’s an abjectly stupid battle to pick. In essence, he said those who are whining need to get a grip, STFU, and stop being annoying:

Some folks just won't ever get it. Saying the Sydney Sweeney ad is "Nazi propaganda" because they're implying a blond, white woman has good genes is ... mental. That is not the hill to die on! Yes, it's ok to say white people have good genes from time to time, like everyone else! 

If the ad said ALL white people or ONLY white people have good genes, that would be very different. But when they're selling JEANS and they do a play on words with a woman who clearly has good GENES, in terms of looks, then you seem whiny for complaining about it. It's annoying. 

He’s not wrong here. These people need to touch grass.

The reactions have been gold, however: 

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