Halsey has fiercely defended her new film with Sydney Sweeney after fans boycotted the movie because of the Euphoria star’s American Eagle campaign. ,
Earlier this month, American Eagle released an ad of Sweeney posing in denim, with the tagline: “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans.” The play on words about jeans sparked backlash, with people comparing the phrase to the language of eugenicists and vowing they would not be supporting Sweeney or American Eagle anymore.
Sweeney’s co-star Halsey, who uses they/them pronouns, spoke out about the drama this week, and the impact it had on movie, Americana. They posted on their Instagram Stories on Thursday to criticize fans who skipped out on seeing the movie because of the American Eagle campaign.
“You should see this movie because @tonytost made an exceptional film, in honor of a genre he knows intimately,” the singer wrote, referring to the movie’s director. “Because his work and his vision are greater than the 24 hr gossip tabloid denim bulls***.”
Halsey continued about Tost: “He’s an incredible artist who made a great film with a group of hardworking, talented people. If you love cinema, than you should know that cinema comes first. This is cinema.”

In a follow-up story, Halsey said they agreed “that our words are important in this climate,” seemingly referring to the criticism about the tagline of Sweeney’s jeans campaign.
“I don’t, however, think that it’s fair for the news cycle to predatorily rip a hardworking and his hardworking crew for their film that is completely separate from an unrelated-to a (pretty dumb) advertising take,” Halsey added. “If it’s not clear who the actual people I’m standing up for are, I’m sorry look closer.”
Tost posted about his movie on X Friday, sharing his belief that any movie could thrive amid controversies and backlash surrounding actors.
“One of the great things about movies is that they outlive the zeitgeist into which they were released,” he wrote. “As someone whose first film sorta got gobbled up by the zeitgeist, I’ll be curious to see how it’ll stand up after this moment is over. Hopefully fairly well!”
Halsey and Tony’s remarks come after Americana flopped at the box office during its release last weekend. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film made a mere $500,000 during its nationwide debut in 1,123 theaters.
Several fans previously vowed that they wouldn’t be supporting Sweeney’s work following the American Eagle ad. The “Great Jeans” tagline sparked immense backlash because the phrases “good genes” and “great genes” have historically been used in the language of eugenicists, who believe the human race can be improved genetically by selective breeding.

Amid the backlash, public voting records revealed the Anyone But You star registered as a Republican in Florida, several months before President Donald Trump won his second term. She has neither endorsed nor supported Trump publicly.
Trump himself later responded to Sweeney’s voter status, calling her American Eagle commercial the “‘HOTTEST’ ad out there.” The president then took a jab at what he called “WOKE” advertising, before making a segue to reignite his feud with pop star Taylor Swift.
“Or just look at Woke singer Taylor Swift. Ever since I alerted the world as to what she was by saying on TRUTH that I can’t stand her (HATE!),” Trump continued. “She was booed out of the Super Bowl and became, NO LONGER HOT.”
Trump concluded his rant that “WOKE is for losers” and that the “Republican Party is what you want to be.”
The president first learned of Sweeney’s party registration on August 3 while speaking to reporters on the runway in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
“You’d be surprised how many people are Republicans. That’s one I wouldn’t have known, but I’m glad you told me that,” he said. “If Sydney Sweeney is a registered Republican, I think her ad is fantastic.”