Sydney Sweeney has said she does not engage with claims she is a “MAGA Barbie” because she cannot control how people perceive her politics.
The Euphoria and The Housemaid actress has claimed that people on social media attempt to use her as a political “pawn,” but she has no interest in talking about how she votes.
In an interview with Cosmopolitan, Sweeney said: “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. And I think because of that, people want to take it even further and use me as their own pawn. But it’s somebody else assigning something to me, and I can’t control that.”
Asked why she does not attempt to correct the “MAGA Barbie” claims if they are untrue, she responded: “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. I just have to continue being who I am, because I know who I am. I can’t make everyone love me. I know what I stand for.”
Sweeney was embroiled in political debate last year after her viral “great genes/jeans” American Eagle ads sparked concerns over subliminal white supremacy. Sweeney remained silent about the backlash. At the time, The Guardian reported that she was registered as a Republican voter in Florida a few months before Donald Trump returned to the White House. Reacting to the report, Trump said: “I think her ad is fantastic.”
“It’s definitely not a comfortable thing to have people saying what you believe or think, especially when that doesn’t align with you. It’s been a weird thing having to navigate and digest, because it’s not me. None of it is me,” Sweeney told Cosmopolitan.