"'Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans' is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans, her story," reads the statement. "We'll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone."

Teen retailer American Eagle Outfitters has a message to its critics, who took issue over its denim ad campaign with 27-year-old actor Sydney Sweeney that sparked a debate over race and Western beauty standards.

One week into the social-media maelstrom created by Sydney Sweeney slipping into her great jeans-while talking about her great genes-American Eagle broke its deafening silence by issuing a statement on