The stars of “Euphoria” have been going through it recently.
Days after Barbie Ferreira announced her exit from the hit HBO show, co-star Sydney Sweeney is at the center of controversy after she posted photos from her mother’s 60th birthday party. On Saturday, the “White Lotus” actor shared videos and photos from the hoedown-themed celebration.
“no better way to celebrate my momma than a surprise hoedown,” Sweeney captioned her Instagram post.
While Sweeney was captured riding a mechanical bull and dancing in a barn with her loved ones in some photos, eagle-eyed fans honed in on the final picture in her compilation. In that pic, Sweeney posed alongside a man wearing a shirt with the Blue Lives Matter logo — an American flag with a blue line, which is associated with supporting police and law enforcement.
Other sleuthing fans who visited the Instagram account for Sweeney’s brother, Trent, noticed that partygoers wore hats resembling former President Trump’s trademark red “Make America Great Again” caps.
“The hats say ‘Make Sixty Great Again’ btw,” Trent Sweeney wrote in his caption, which has been edited.
On the actor’s original post, fans called out Sweeney for her family members’ attire and questioned her political beliefs.
“QUEEN NOT THE BLUE LIVES MATTER SHIRT,” one user replied.
“Hmm where were you on Jan 6th,” another commented, referring to the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
After the social media outcry, Sweeney addressed the “wild” criticism on Twitter.
“An innocent celebration for my moms milestone 60th birthday has turned into an absurd political statement, which was not the intention,” she wrote Saturday. “Please stop making assumptions.”
Skepticism from fans persisted, but the actor found some support from conservative figures, including pundit Tomi Lahren.
“Never bow or apologize to the mob,” Lahren tweeted after Sweeney’s Twitter statement.
In another tweet, Lahren further defended Sweeney’s pictures.
“OMG sydney_sweeney had the audacity to hve a birthday party for her mom and her family had the audacity to appear like they maybe might be conservatives and/or support law enforcement?! Oh the horror! GTFOH, vultures,” she wrote.
Conservative media personality John Ziegler also weighed in on the controversy.
“In case you are wondering, what caused this insane Twitter reaction is that it is apparently POSSIBLE that some of her family members are Trump supporters,” he tweeted.
Conservative outlet Citizen Free Press, Newsmax columnist Christine Flowers, Rebel News journalist Katie Daviscourt and actor Nick Searcy have also expressed support for Sweeney.
Sweeney, who is most known for her work as Cassie on “Euphoria,” is up for two Emmy Awards and is set to appear in the upcoming film “Madame Web.”
She recently spoke to The Times about how her acting career “wasn’t great for a very long time.”
“I had no connections. I did not come from money. And when you’re 16 and you don’t really like yourself, and you’re trying to figure out what the hell is going on in your body and your makeup and your hormones, and people are telling you that you’re not good enough — that weight is so heavy,” she said. “But I had parents who, no matter what, believed in me.”
