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About a month ago, <\/span>GQ<\/span><\/i> Features Director<\/span> K<\/b>atherine Stoeffel<\/b> lobbed a couple of softball questions at <\/span>Sydney Sweeney<\/b> about the actor\u2019s now-infamous American Eagle \u201cgreat jeans\u201d ad. \u201cWere you surprised by the reaction?\u201d she asked. Sweeney paused, looked simultaneously confused, bored, and annoyed\u2014insofar as she ever shows any emotion\u2014and replied, \u201cI did a jean ad.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The <\/span>campaign in question<\/span><\/a>, which came out in July, was interpreted by segments of the online chattering classes as eugenics-coded: \u201cSydney Sweeney has great jeans,\u201d a deep male voiceover decreed, as she rolled around onscreen looking like Sydney Sweeney. This interpretation was picked up by people who think racism is good <\/span>and<\/span><\/i> people who think racism is bad, which means this conversation has had real internet staying power.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Which is why, nearly four months later, Stoeffel spent a few minutes on the \u201ccontroversy\u201d during a <\/span>sitdown<\/span><\/a> promoting <\/span>GQ<\/span><\/i>\u2019s Men of the Year issue. After her initial question, Stoeffel <\/span>asked<\/span><\/a> whether or not Sweeney wanted to address \u201cthe criticism of the content, which was basically that maybe specifically in this political climate, white people shouldn\u2019t joke about genetic superiority?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI think that when I have an issue that I want to speak about, people will hear it,\u201d Sweeney responded\u2014AKA uh, no, she did not want to address the concept of white supremacy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n