Does everyone remember the social media wildfire that was Sydney Sweeney‘s mom’s alleged “MAGA-themed” 60th birthday party? Well, according to the Euphoria star, all the buzz was nothing but “so many misinterpretations” from the internet.
In case you missed it, here’s a recap: in August 2022, Sweeney threw her mother a “hoedown”-themed birthday party in Idaho, complete with cowboy hats, a mechanical bull and country line dancing. When the star’s brother posted photos from the event to his social media account, followers quickly noticed attendees wearing Blue Lives Matter merch and MAGA-styled hats that read, “Make Sixty Great Again.”
Fans quickly jumped to conclusions and claimed the Donald Trump-inspired hats “exposed” her family’s “conservative” political views. However, the actress said that people got it all wrong in a new interview with Variety.
“There were so many misinterpretations,” Sweeney told the outlet nearly one year after the incident. “The people in the pictures weren’t even my family.”
She continued, “The people who brought the things that people were upset about were actually my mom’s friends from L.A. who have kids that are walking outside in the Pride parade, and they thought it would be funny to wear because they were coming to Idaho.”
Idaho is an extremely red state which primarily voted for Trump in both 2016 and 2020.
This isn’t the first time Sweeney has fired back at the accusations. Shortly after the social media hellfire began, she tweeted, “You guys this is wild. An innocent celebration for my mom’s milestone 60th birthday has turned into an absurd political statement, which was not the intention. Please stop making assumptions. Much love to everyone.”
A few months later — in November 2022, to be exact — she opened up about the scandal yet again in an interview with GQ.
“Honestly I feel like nothing I say can help the conversation. It’s been turning into a wildfire and nothing I can say will take it back to the correct track,” she said, before later adding, “I’ll see people say, ‘She needs to get media training.’ Why, do you want to see a robot? I don’t think there’s any winning.”