Sophia Michaels
Earlier this year, Sydney Sweeney received backlash after photos posted from her mother’s birthday party featured shots of family members sporting Trump MAGA hats and t-shirts. At the time, she asked that people “please stop making assumptions,” about the situation, but in a recent interview with British GQ, the Euphoria star expressed that she doesn’t see the point in trying to control the narrative.
“Honestly, I feel like nothing I say can help the conversation,” she says. “It’s been turning into a wildfire, and nothing I can say will take it back to the correct track.”
The conversation, which Sweeney described as people turning a family gathering into an “absurd political statement,” spread quickly. First, as it has been known to do, the internet churned the moment through the meme factory, photoshopping MAGA hats on her Euphoria character Cassie and started referencing back to the January 6th insurrection. Then, the discourse evolved into a more serious conversation about whether or not people should be held accountable for the actions of their Republican family members if they don’t completely cut them out of their life.
For Sweeney, the area where she grew up – Spokane County in Washington – is still home to many of her friends and family members. The country voted for Trump by clear margins in both 2016 and 2020.
“When I go home, my family doesn’t understand me or the world I’m in anymore,” Sweeney told GQ. “But then, in this industry, my home and the place that grounds me is so vastly different to how people live there. I’m in this in-between place where I feel like neither side understands me.”
