Comment by echelon

It's the political zeitgeist. If it were the Biden years, I think it would have been interpreted differently.

One of the reasons why it blew up is the relative silence from American Eagle and Sydney Sweeney, both of whom took their sweet time to respond to the negative press. They were likely pressed to figure out how not to piss off either side of the electorate. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Their silence felt like affirmation of the accusation.

The follow up with other models from other races was good, but it came really slow. The damage was done by the time they figured it out.