Doja Cat Drags Sydney Sweeney Over Tone-Deaf "Genes" Ad

It all began with an American Eagle advertisement in which Sweeney appeared awkwardly grinning toward the camera as she said, "Genes are passed down from parents to children and are the reason you are naturally good at so many things. My jeans are blue." Yep, that's the line. And though it may have sounded like a cheeky word choice, genes versus jeans, the internet heard dog whistles all the same.

Cue Doja Cat, TikTok's favorite court jester and unadulterated truth-teller, who roasted the ad to a crisp with a parody video that is quickly going viral online. Wearing a deadpan expression and speaking in a blocky, heavy redneck accent, Doja exaggerated every awkward pause and glassy-eyed smirk that Sweeney herself delivered so well on the original.

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But Doja's drag was not for laughs, but it landed with teeth. At the same time, both fans and detractors are cringing at the original ad's creepy vibe, not to mention the fact that its laser emphasis on Sweeney's bright blue eyes and blonde hair is just plain weird. Because that sort of language has been employed in the past by racist pseudoscience (hi, eugenics), people were swift to drag the ad for being tone-deaf at best, harmful at worst.

"Doja Cat making fun of Sydney Sweeney was not on my bingo card this year but I ain't mad," posted one person on Twitter. One commenter wrote, "Doja on the right side of history as always."

And the controversy strikes a raw nerve in the current cultural conversation, about how brands continue to uphold whitewashed beauty norms while pretending they're just selling jeans. Critics were quick to wonder: Would this be the same script if there were a Black or brown celebrity in the ad? If there were more diversity in the casting, would we even be having this conversation?

In the meantime, the comment sections of American Eagle are wildly tormented. From jokes to calls for boycotts, their social media pages have become the epicenter of Gen Z's wrath. Many of them are calling on the company to revise the ad's messaging or pull it altogether.

As for Sydney Sweeney? So far, she hasn't spoken, but her team is surely on high alert. With her name trending for the wrong reasons, this misstep could leave a mark that's tougher to get out than a red wine spill on white denim.

Doja Cat, meanwhile, has once again demonstrated that she's not just talking culture but she's driving it. Comic and crucial, with a keen instinct and zero interest in mincing words, she made short work of bullshit and gave the internet exactly what it wanted: a moment of clarity, dressed up in chaos.