President Trump appeared thrilled to learn that actress Sydney Sweeney is a card-carrying Republican, adding that he now thinks her viral American Eagle ad campaign is “fantastic.”

“She’s a registered Republican?” Mr. Trump said on Sunday in response to a reporter’s question. “Oh, now I love her ad.”

“You’d be surprised at how many people are Republicans,” he added. “That’s what I wouldn’t have known, but I’m glad you told me that. If Sydney Sweeney is a registered Republican, I think her ad is fantastic.”

The actress’s voter registration surfaced online late last week after she faced backlash for the ad campaign. Unearthed public voter records show that Ms. Sweeney has been registered with the Republican Party of Florida in Monroe County since June 2024, according to Fox News.

The 27-year-old movie star’s partnership with the American apparel brand recently launched with the cheeky slogan “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans,” creating significant buzz that initially sent the company’s stock soaring.

The campaign gained momentum when the retailer released a series of promotional clips showcasing the “Euphoria” star draped in denim looks while in various stages of undress and engaging in classic American pastimes. One video shows Ms. Sweeney cuddling with a German shepherd puppy, while another features her posed against the hood of a white Mustang.

The company began to take heat over the wordplay of the campaign’s title. “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color,” the actress says in one clip. The camera then pans up to her bright blue eyes before she utters: “My jeans are blue.”

Left-wing commentators and angry customers alike accused American Eagle of promoting white-supremacist ideals and evoking eugenics-era language.

“Not-so-thinly-veiled white supremacy but let’s use sex appeal to soften the blow,” a marketing consultant, Bridget Poetker, wrote in a now-viral LinkedIn post. “Eugenics. racism. ableism,” she added. 

A brand strategist, Anastasia Kärklina Gabriel, called the campaign “one of the most outrageously racist marketing outputs I’ve seen in quite a while” and questioned “what can a blonde model with blue eyes talking about having ‘good blue jeans/genes’ signify in the current cultural climate?”

The controversy has barely affected the company’s share price, which has jumped 21 percent since the campaign launched.

During a Friday appearance on conservative podcast “Ruthless,” Vice President Vance had fun at the expense of the ad campaign’s critics.

“My political advice to the Democrats is continue to tell everybody who thinks Sydney Sweeney is attractive is a Nazi. That appears to be their actual strategy,” he said.