Sydney Sweeney’s Hollywood career is in freefall as insiders tell RadarOnline.com her recent publicity choices have pushed studio chiefs to quietly sideline her – a shift some are now describing as professional “death” in an industry where image is everything.
The controversy has mounted over the past two years, beginning with the viral backlash to her now-infamous family’s “Blue Lives Matter” gathering in Idaho and accelerating through a series of public missteps, insiders say have left major producers unwilling to take risks on her.
Sweeney Has Become ‘Radioactive’
Sweeney’s career appears to be on the downswing.
Tensions intensified after her recent American Eagle advert was branded “racist” for appearing to support the Aryan race worshipped by Hitler, leading it to be seized on by far-right groups as a top ad campaign.
Industry observers say the silence hardened perceptions among left-leaning film bosses that Sweeney had chosen her political brand over her career.
One senior studio strategist said: “Executives feel she keeps doubling down on the wrong headlines. Her whole PR plan is being viewed as a self-inflicted wound. People at the top are saying she’s making herself radioactive.”
Another long-time producer added: “Her refusal to address that first scandal was taken as a signal – like she didn’t care how it played. That’s when doors started closing.”
Sweeney’s ‘Red Flags’ Revealed
The blonde bombshell’s American Eagle ad previously sparked major backlash, which she has refused to address.
Both pointed to what one described as “a clear pattern” drawn from her silence during the American Eagle uproar, her attendance at Jeff Bezos’ wedding, and now her new relationship with Scooter Braun.
The American Eagle controversy kicked off when the brand’s campaign was appropriated by far-right commentators, with Donald Trump calling it “the HOTTEST ad out there.”
Her standing took another hit when old photos from her 2022 family celebration resurfaced, showing guests in “Blue Lives Matter” attire. Although Sweeney said at the time she was “heartbroken that innocent family moments are being twisted,” studio executives were already wary of her due to her political stance.
She grew up in a conservative household in Kentucky and, as many people do, adopted her parents’ politics. And there has been the resurfacing of her 2024 voter registration as a Republican.
Resurfaced photos of standing alongside wearing ‘Blue Lives Matter’ attire have not done her any favors.
These revelations, according to insiders, made her “persona non grata” in many progressive circles of Hollywood. A casting executive said, “Hollywood has a long memory. After that Idaho incident, people stopped attaching her to major projects.”
Her openness about being a registered Republican also deepened the divide.
A veteran talent agent explained, “There’s an unspoken rule – you can be anything privately, but publicly identifying as conservative is now career quicksand. It pushed her further out of the room.”
Those tensions have collided with Sweeney’s massive big-screen ambitions. Despite her recently joking she would “have more fun as James Bond,” insiders say she is “not on any serious casting list” for the upcoming reboot, which may see the spy cast as a female.
One Amazon MGM adviser said: “The Bond franchise is meticulous about global marketability. Right now, she’s seen as too polarizing to be involved in any way.”Yet Sweeney has continued working, with roles in Immaculate and Echo Valley – though her turn as a female boxer in Christy was recently panned, with the film flopping.
In a recent interview, Sweeney gained sympathy from some fans after she described the pressures she has faced since childhood in the showbiz world.
She said: “I have very strong eyebrow muscles, and I had someone tell me to fix my face, or else I’m not going to make it. I should get Botox. I was 16. Being an actress, it’s a lot harder to stand in the room and demand your worth and for people to look at you and value you.”
