Sydney Sweeney says birthday photo turned into political statement – ​​The Hollywood Reporter

Euphoria Star Sydney Sweeney responded online to a series of photos and videos from her mother’s 60th birthday party, which the actress posted to her Instagram on Saturday.

Among the photos, the Emmy-nominated talent published is an image featuring an unidentified man wearing a blue Lives Matter flag shirt, a symbol of the pro-police counter-movement created in response to Black Lives Matter.

The photos, which were taken at a hoedown-themed birthday party for Sweeney’s mother, were captioned, “No better way to celebrate my mum than a surprise hoedown.” The actress also shared photos from the event on her Instagram story featuring line dancing and a rodeo-themed cake.

After posting the photos and videos early on Saturday, social media users began speculating about Sweeney and his family’s politics and Sweeney’s stance on the blue life account in light of the unnamed individual seen in shirt.

“You guys this is wild. An innocent celebration for my mum’s 60th birthday turned into a nonsensical political statement which was not the intention,” she tweeted in response to the criticism of her photos, which had her name trending on Twitter on Saturday: “Please stop making assumptions.”

In addition to the blue shirt, additional criticism surfaced after social media users discovered photos posed by one of Sweeney’s family members at the event included people wearing “Make 60 Great Again” – a reference to Donald Trump’s campaign slogan “Make America Great Again.

In a August 2 interview with The Los Angeles TimesSweeney opened up about the impact her family has had on her career while discussing a clip of her sharing her Emmy nomination news with her mother.

“I couldn’t have pursued my dreams without his support in this decision,” she said. “I was 12, 13 and my mom and dad gave up everything they knew so I could pursue my dreams. We lost friends, we lost our home, we lost everything looking for him.

At the height of racial justice and Black Lives Matter protests over the summer of 2020, Sweeney shared his support for the movement like a number of Hollywood figures through his social media. “[W]We must do better. the hate in this world must stop. #Black lives matter,” she tweeted.

Black Lives Matter is a decentralized political and social movement launched in 2013 after the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, a black teenager, that addresses systemic racism and police brutality against black people. The Blue Lives Matter movement was formed in response to BLM and advocates for officers and other emergency personnel to be a protected class, with the possibility of individuals being prosecuted for hate crimes in cases they are found to be. guilty of killing law enforcement officers.

The The ACLU of New York condemned The Blue Lives Matter bills proposed by conservative politicians across the country, describing them as “a deeply inappropriate attempt to equate a willfully chosen career path with the immutable traits that give rise to protection under our civil rights”. The civil liberties organization also said it was “undermining efforts to improve police-community relations while doing nothing to improve officer safety.”