The Absurd Backlash Against ‘Euphoria’ Star Sydney Sweeney, Explained

Euphoria star Sydney Sweeney unintentionally sparked a wave of online backlash on Saturday after posting a series of photos and videos from her mother’s 60th birthday party on Instagram.

While the majority of Instagram comments jokingly mention “Oklahoma,” a reference to a one-liner from Euphoria, other commentators took issue with a t-shirt worn by one of the guests at the party, featuring a symbol associated with “Blue Lives Matter,” a pro-police counter-movement to Black Lives Matter.

While Sweeney has previously posted in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, some extremely online sleuths took to searching the Instagram accounts of other guests at the party, and found more photos featuring replica MAGA hats, leading many to assume that Sweeney’s family leans politically to the right.

This sparked a bit of a controversy, as some commentators took issue with Sweeney casually posting a photo featuring an image associated with Blue Lives Matter, while others criticized Sweeney for associating with her own family, some even demanding that she cut her parents out of her life.

To put this in context, a lot of Euphoria fans are young, naive, and presumably, extremely idealistic, and seemingly felt betrayed by Sweeney’s Instagram post. Of course, the absurdity of “cancelling” an actress because of the perceived political beliefs of her family wasn’t lost on some, and more level-headed social media users soon saw the funny side.

In response to the backlash, Twitter users began posting jokes, satirizing the angry comments, jokingly demanding that Sweeney disavow her parents to appease anonymous social media accounts.

Others made jokes about the whereabouts of Sweeney’s parents on January 6th.

The memeification of the controversy kept Sweeney’s name in the trending tab, leading to Sweeney addressing the controversy on Twitter:

“You guys this is wild. An innocent celebration for my moms milestone 60th birthday has turned into an absurd political statement, which was not the intention,” she tweeted. “Please stop making assumptions.”

As the backlash snowballed, others began commenting on the strange puritanical standards that certain public figures are held to, while other problematic celebrities are essentially ignored (for example, Ezra Miller’s alleged crime spree is more or less viewed as a joke).

Others were baffled at the thought of Euphoria fans objecting to the political beliefs of Sweeney’s family. After all, many progressives have reactionary relatives, regardless of their identity; surely, only blindly idealistic or terminally online fans would view the Instagram post as a betrayal.

The Sydney Sweeney backlash echoed the Chris Pratt controversy, which was sparked by Marvel fans making assumptions about the actor’s politics. Eventually, Pratt pushed back against the claims made against him, before doubling down and seemingly becoming an “anti-woke” guy.

Neither of these actors are really “cancelled,” of course; their careers are thriving. But it’s pretty tedious that the most puritanical scolds always manage to spark the majority of internet discourse; our timelines often feel like an infinite ouroboros of misplaced anger.

Fans expressing fury at the perceived politics of their favorite actors is incredibly ironic, as the entertainment industry is hardly a paragon of virtue – Hollywood is infamous for systemic misogyny, racism and the glamorization of exploitative working conditions.

For some reason, a fringe of extremely online fans seem to expect actors to express perfectly progressive viewpoints at all times; sometimes, it seems as though entertainers are held to higher standards than politicians.

There’s only one conclusion to draw from the Sweeney controversy – some fans simply need to go outside, breathe some fresh air, and touch grass.