Sydney Sweeney’s ‘Americana’ Co-Star Halsey Responds to American Eagle Controversy in Defense of New Movie

Halsey takes a firm stance on her co-star’s denim drama as it relates to the success of their new movie.

Sydney Sweeney and Halsey at the ‘Americana’ Los Angeles Special Screening in Los Angeles, Calif. / Gilbert Flores/Variety/Getty Images

Amid the fallout of Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle controversy, Halsey is speaking out against people boycotting their new movie, Americana. She puts a focus on the work director Tony Tost did instead of providing her opinion on the viral campaign.

“You should go see this movie,” Halsey wrote on her Instagram story, as reported by E! News. “Because @tonytost made an exceptional film, in honor of a genre he knows intimately. Because his work and his vision are greater than the 24 hr gossip tabloid denim bullsh--t.”

i feel bad for halsey she’s trying so bad to promote this movie but nobody wants to see it bc of sydney sweeney 😭 pic.twitter.com/XecRKoyoxP

— nick⸆⸉ (@spilledurguts) August 21, 2025

“He’s an incredible artist who made a great film with a group of hardworking, talented people,” she continued. “If you love cinema, [then] you should know that cinema comes first. This is cinema.”

With only a $500,000 opening weekend, the 2025 title—which was acquired by Lionsgate for $3 million—underperformed. While some may attribute the film’s poor performance to the current box office competition or the fact that it only opened in 1,100 theaters, Halsey believes the numbers stem from people wanting to punish Sweeney for the American Eagle ad.

In the same breath, however, the singer-songwriter does acknowledge the harm Sweeney’s controversial ad has done to others. Even so, she doesn’t believe it warrants the public taking it out on the arts.

“I do agree that our words are important in this climate. I don’t, however, think that it’s fair for the news cycle to predatorily rip a hardworking director and his hardworking crew for this film that is completely separate-from and unrelated-to a (pretty dumb) advertising take," she added.

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For those thinking Halsey is defending Sweeney in the controversy, she stated, “If it's not clear who the actual people I’m standing up for are, I’m sorry look closer.”

Tost holds the same sentiments as his star. He took to X to express his thoughts on the media’s perception of his film. Ultimately, he hopes that when the world eventually moves on from the controversy, his movie will remain standing.

“One of the great things about movies is that they outlive the zeitgeist into which they were released,” he expressed.“ 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!”

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