Sydney Sweeney has responded to critics labelling her "MAGA Barbie" online.
Last August, editors at The New York Post reported that the Euphoria actress had been registered with the Republican Party of Florida in Monroe County since June 2024.
Sweeney has never commented on her political affiliations, and in an interview for Cosmopolitan published on Thursday, she explained why she ignores people who have aligned her with U.S. President Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan.
"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," the 28-year-old said. "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."
Speculation about Sweeney's political ties came shortly after she hit headlines for fronting a denim campaign for American Eagle, which had the tagline "Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans".
In the images, The Housemaid star - who is blonde and blue-eyed - is seen standing in front of a poster which has the word "genes" crossed out and replaced with "jeans".
The campaign generated backlash online, with some critics alleging that the phrase "great genes" promotes a rhetoric associated with eugenics.
Previously, Sweeney insisted that the advert was simply about denim, and in the conversation with Cosmopolitan, she emphasised that she has no desire to discuss politics.
"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," she continued. "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."
Elsewhere in the interview, Sweeney maintained that she's "not a political person".
"I'm in the arts. I'm not here to speak on politics. That's not an area I've ever even imagined getting into. It's not why I became who I am," the Christy actress added. "I became an actor because I like to tell stories, but I don't believe in hate in any form."
