Just a few years ago, Sydney Sweeney was one of the most successful up and coming actresses in Hollywood. With large successes like “Euphoria”, “Anyone But You” and “The Voyeurs”, Sydney was the best next actress that every film was going after. However, in the past couple of years, Sydney Sweeney has fallen to cancel culture, had terrible numbers in the box office for her films and is no longer loved by audiences. While her fame and audience approval has drastically plummeted, I wonder what has caused such a strong spike in being admired to being hated in such a short career. So let’s run down her career, the peak of it and what has happened since that has caused her to have such a horrible downfall.
The first thing I remember Sydney Sweeney from was Netflix’s Original Show “Everything Sucks” back in 2018. I had just gotten a Netflix account and was obsessed with all the different shows they had to offer. This was not one of them. It really wasn’t memorable to me, and neither was the acting, but that’s where I first remember her from. That starts the timeline out, 2018 being her first notable piece of work as a consistent character. Ever since that show, Sydney has been booked and busy. Although this show wasn’t what skyrocketed her career, it is definitely the starting point to consistent work. A year later, the pilot season of HBO’s “Euphoria” comes out and takes the world by storm. The explicit show that covers the lives of different high schoolers and their complicated lives and history truly shocked the mainstream audience about such an erotic and vulgar high school show it was, yet had millions hooked. In this show, Sweeney played the character Cassie – a cliche “dumb blonde” with a taunting sexual history who plays the sidekick to one of the bigger characters, Maddie. With the second season of this show later releasing, Sweeney’s character gained much more screentime, importance and recognition. She was definitely more popular as a character this season, mostly for being widely hated. As some would say, Cassie had her “crashout” season in this season, however Sweeney’s acting in difficult scenes in this show is what really made her stand out and get her more popular. She was set to be the next biggest star. And that’s what she set out to do. In 2021, she played a main role in an Amazon Prime Video Original, “The Voyagers”, where she displayed that she has the main character’s promise and capability. Although this film isn’t one of her bigger projects, it definitely showed that Sweeney had the grit and talent to become a star in Hollywood, not just making a career as a side character. This worked in her 2023 film, “Anyone But You”, where she was the main star, dominated box offices and starred in one of the biggest movies of that year. After that film’s success, Sydney Sweeney had a promising future in film, so what happened?
The first incident to my recollection was her mother’s 60th birthday party she attended in 2022, where she took pictures with other attendees, including some of her family members, wearing “Make America Great Again (MAGA)” Hats. This seemed to be the start of a very troubling and cancellable series of events. Although she claimed that the hats were worn as a joke and not taken seriously, fans thought it was weird behavior and something she didn’t have to stand behind. However, time went on, fans moved on and so did she. However, sooner than later she would find herself stuck in the middle of controversy. Although Sweeney received much applause for portraying such a raw and extreme role as she did as Cassie in Euphoria, people respected her because she was playing that role. The hyper-sexualization and predatory characteristics of the character was an obvious pull towards the male gaze and audience and made playing her very explicit and vulnerable, but it was an act which is why she got her applause. Prior to her big blowup in her career, fans online would always appreciate that besides being an actress, she was very independent and a powerful woman – knowing how to fix cars and teaching others, staying educated and staying in school and more. However, after Euphoria, she changed. She started entertaining hypersexualization, embodied the dumb blonde stereotype and became male-centered. She became Cassie. From her SNL Skit where she indicated working at Hooters was her Plan B, to partnering with Dr. Squatch to make a “Sydney Sweeney Bathwater Soap”, women across the board stopped taking her seriously and lost respect for her. She was no longer a role model. Unfortunately, that wasn’t even the peak of her downfall. 2025 has served to be a very problematic year in her career. Most notably, Sydney Sweeney’s “Good Jeans” Ad with American Eagle. During this past summer, Sweeney and American Eagle Collabed on a Jeans Ad, where Sweeney discusses traits and characteristics, like hair color, skin, and other genetics being passed down and that she has “good jeans”. This ad was noted to have racial undertones and hints of white supremacy as she described her all-white, all-american “jeans” (playing a pun on genes) to be good, indicating people without her traits don’t have good genes. Both American Eagle and Sydney Sweeney stood behind the ad, stating it was simply just a Jean Ad. This brushing off of the criticism is really insensitive and honestly what makes me believe she deserves the hate she receives. It’s not like they were criticising her acting or bullying her, they were calling out a very serious topic – racism. This isn’t something that should be taken lightly, especially because people were offended and still are, yet it was which leads me, along with many others, to believe she doesn’t care about the harm she took part in and how her actions hurt others. Just like the MAGA Hat controversy, she never apologized and never denounced the reason behind the hate. Although the intention was to sell American Eagle jeans, the ad seemed to be targeted towards the white male gaze, which Sydney Sweeney played right into and has been entertaining so much recently. So much so, it further proves she’s becoming Cassie, who did anything for a man’s attention. Following the American Eagle ad, later that month it was revealed that Sydney Sweeney was registered as a republican. In political times like these, political affiliations in our public figures do matter, and it impacts the platforms we give them. This comes to no shock to me knowing her history in controversy, mostly surrounding her political stances, however further confirms for me that she isn’t someone I would personally support. Lastly, her new relationship with Scooter Braun. A well-known agent, notorious for cutting ruthless deals with artists under his name, and most notably for selling Taylor Swift’s masters that led to her re-recording her earlier albums, is not a well-liked figure in Hollywood amongst the general public. So going public with a guy with a horrible reputation only tarnishes hers more. Ever since “Anything But You”, her box office numbers and support has plummeted. Not only from just the audience and fans, but co-stars. Celebrities like Zendaya, who she once worked with (and still does for the next season of Euphoria), has publicly refused to do a media tour, or any media of that sort, with Sydney Sweeney to promote the upcoming season of Euphoria following the series of controversial events of Sweeney’s career. Just the slight notion of being seen with her is risky enough for other celebrities’ images, and is honestly embarrassing for how low her status and career has gone.
Sydney couldn’t keep her name out of the headlines, and not for the right reasons. This series of events, whether or not you agree she should have been “cancelled” or hated for, ultimately led to her no longer being taken seriously and to the downfall of her career that is still ongoing. It would take either a huge apology and turnaround or a miracle to save the current route her career is going into.