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Sydney Sweeney broke her silence on social media to promote her new movie Americana
It marks Sweeney’s first Instagram post since her controversial American Eagle campaign
Americana is in theaters Friday, Aug. 15
Sydney Sweeney has broken her social-media silence.
Following backlash the actress received over a recent American Eagle denim ad campaign, she returned to Instagram to promote her new movie Americana on Wednesday, Aug. 13.
Sweeney, 27, shared a carousel of behind-the-scenes snapshots from the upcoming Tony Tost-directed film, led by a still of her as her character Penny Jo Poplin.
“A few years ago I filmed this little movie with some friends and now you get to meet penny jo ♥️,” she captioned the post.
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Sweeney’s ad campaign for American Eagle jeans was embroiled in controversy late last month, sparking debate over its tagline, “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans.”
The tagline prompted critics to claim that the usage of the word “jeans” as a play on “genes” is racially charged and hints at genetic superiority.
Others slammed the campaign for catering to the male gaze and taking inspiration from Brooke Shields’ controversial 1980 denim campaign.
Shields’ age (she was 15 at the time) ruffled feathers due to the commercial’s provocative tagline: “You want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing.” (The 1980 ad also featured similar messaging about passing down characteristics from generation to generation.)
Meanwhile, others feel the reaction to the American Eagle campaign is overblown and unfounded.
On Aug. 1, American Eagle issued a statement in response to the backlash.
In an Instagram graphic, the brand wrote, “‘Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans'” is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans. Her story. We’ll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone.”
Steve Granitz/FilmMagic
Sydney Sweeney at a Los Angeles screening of Americana on Aug. 3, 2025
On Aug. 3, Sweeney stepped out to promote Americana at a screening in Los Angeles, marking her first red-carpet event since the controversy.
The cast of Americana also includes Halsey, Paul Walter Hauser, Simon Rex, Eric Dane and Zahn McClarnon. The film is set in a South Dakota town as everyone gets embroiled in a plot to steal a prized Lakota “ghost shirt.”
“A highly prized Native American artifact leads a gallery of dynamic characters down a dangerous path in this wildly entertaining modern-day Western,” a synopsis reads.
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“After the rare relic falls onto the black market, the lives of a small-town woman and her son become violently intertwined with a quirky local diner waitress, an offbeat military veteran and a corrupt antiquities dealer,” it continues.
“Crime and chaos follow when an indigenous group leader and his crew join the fray in order to reclaim the artifact and return it to its rightful place,” the synopsis concludes.
Americana is in theaters Friday, Aug. 15.
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