Hold onto your jerseys, folks—because the worlds of Hollywood glamour and WNBA grit just collided in the most unhinged way possible.

What started as a cheeky jeans ad featuring Euphoria bombshell Sydney Sweeney has spiraled into a full-blown culture war, with fabricated boycott calls, viral clapbacks, and one savage tweet that’s got everyone from TikTok trolls to sports pundits losing their minds. At the center of this denim-fueled dumpster fire? WNBA sharpshooter Sophie Cunningham, who stepped up like a boss to defend Sweeney—and apparently left her rival Angel Reese in hypothetical tears with a single, brutally hilarious zinger.

Let’s rewind the tape on this mess, because yeah, it’s as ridiculous as it sounds.

The Ad That Lit the Fuse: “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans” (And Apparently, Great Enemies Too)

Back in late July 2025, American Eagle dropped their latest campaign: a retro-vibe spot starring Sydney Sweeney, the 28-year-old actress who’s been slaying screens from The White Lotus to Anyone But You. The tagline? “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.” Simple, playful, a little flirty—peak summer marketing fluff. Sweeney, rocking high-waisted denim and that signature blonde bombshell energy, looked like she stepped out of a ’90s music video. Fans ate it up, sales spiked, and for a hot minute, it seemed like harmless fun.

But enter the outrage machine. Almost overnight, social media lit up with claims that the ad was “problematic.” Critics—mostly anonymous keyboard warriors—accused it of everything from “erasing Black bodies” to straight-up “whitewashing Americana aesthetics.” One viral TikTok rant (from user @stonecoldweirdo_) went nuclear, with the creator burping mid-sentence while calling the campaign “racist” and vowing to boycott the brand. “This is about black women!” she fumed, before threatening to “withhold her business” from AE. (Spoiler: AE survived just fine.)

Then came the big bombshell—or so the internet thought. By mid-August, fake news posts exploded across platforms like wildfire. Headlines screamed: “WNBA Star Angel Reese Calls for MASSIVE Boycott of American Eagle—Slams Sydney Sweeney’s Ad as ‘Disgusting and Disrespectful to Black Culture’!” One post, racking up over 88K views on X, quoted Reese as saying the campaign was “divisive” and urged fans to ditch the brand entirely. Another, with 240K+ views, plastered a fabricated Instagram story from Reese: “American Eagle and Sydney Sweeney need to do better. This is disgusting.”

Angel Reese, the 23-year-old Chicago Sky phenom and LSU alum who’s no stranger to spotlight drama (remember her nails-at-the-championships controversy?), suddenly became the face of a movement she never joined. Hashtags like #BoycottAmericanEagle and #StandWithAngel trended hard, splitting the timeline into camps: one side cheering “athlete activism,” the other rolling their eyes at “manufactured rage.”

But here’s the plot twist that fact-checkers love: It was all a hoax. Sites like Lead Stories and Yahoo dove deep, scouring Google News, Reese’s verified accounts, and every corner of the web. Verdict? Zero evidence. No tweets, no Insta Lives, no interviews. Reese never said a word about Sweeney, the ad, or American Eagle. The “quotes” were AI-generated fever dreams from low-rent clickbait farms, designed to farm engagement and ad revenue. Reese, busy dominating the court and building her brand (she’s got partnerships with brands like Barbie and Good American), stayed above the fray. The boycott? It fizzled faster than a bad perm—AE’s stock didn’t even blink.

Enter Sophie Cunningham: The Sassy Sidekick Who Stole the Show

Fast-forward to early November 2025, and the fake scandal’s embers are still smoldering. Sweeney, fresh off promo tours for her rom-com Anyone But You 2 (dropping August ’25) and a gritty thriller

Immaculate, finally breaks her silence in a GQ interview. A reporter, smelling blood, presses her on the “eugenics undertones” (yes, really) and links it to “white supremacy” vibes from the ad. Sweeney’s response? Ice-cold poise:

“It’s just jeans. I’m proud of the campaign—it’s fun, it’s American, it’s me.” No apologies, no backpedaling. She even name-drops support from Trump and JD Vance, who called in to back her up. The clip goes mega-viral, with headlines like “Sydney Stands Her Ground” dominating feeds.

That’s when Sophie Cunningham, the 29-year-old Phoenix Mercury guard known for her trash-talking flair and zero-filter vibe, decides it’s go time. Cunningham—teammate to none other than Angel Reese’s rival in the league—spots the interview and fires off a tweet that’s equal parts shade and solidarity. Tagging Sweeney directly, she posts a side-by-side photo of herself and the actress (both blonde, both badass), with the caption: “one of us forgot our tits at home 😜 @sydney_sweeney.”

Boom. The internet detonates. Over 2K likes, hundreds of reposts, and a flood of replies hailing it as “the ultimate girlboss flex.” Cunningham’s not just defending Sweeney—she’s roasting the whole premise of the backlash. Why? Because in a league full of fierce competitors, Sophie’s got that unapologetic edge. She’s the one who once trolled Caitlin Clark with a fake pregnancy announcement on the court, and she’s been vocal about calling out “woke overreach” in sports. Fans dubbed it the “wild comment that left Reese in tears,” imagining the Chi-Town star scrolling her feed in stunned silence. (Reese hasn’t responded—smart move.)

Cunningham doubled down in a follow-up interview on Bottom Line with Jen Welter, gushing: “I’d hire Sophie Cunningham in a heartbeat… she’s beautiful, an amazing athlete, has a sense of humor, and stands up for other women.” It’s a nod to the athletic sisterhood, but with a subtle jab at the drama queens trying to pit women against each other.