Fox News whips up another Sydney Sweeney ‘controversy' by claiming left is ‘melting down' over old ice cream ad
During Friday's broadcast of the midday roundtable show Outnumbered, the panel devoted an entire segment to the 'buzz' surrounding a resurfaced Baskin-Robbins spot featuring the Euphoria star unveiling her own 'signature scoop' and 'signature fizz,' known as 'Sweet on Sydney' offerings.
The intent of the Fox News discussion, however, wasn't to put the spotlight on the new 'It Girl for the MAGA crowd' so much as it was to gin up the narrative that yet another Sweeney ad is triggering mass hysteria from the left and Democrats.
'If you are tired of her, sorry, Sydney Sweeney continues to make headlines, but this time not for her American Eagle ad,' Fox News host, and presidential daughter-in-law, Lara Trump declared at the top of the segment. 'Amid the furor over that great jeans campaign, the Baskin-Robbins commercial from a month ago has now resurfaced.'
After airing a clip of the ice cream ad, Trump claimed that the 'commercial is now making the rounds on social media' before insisting that it is 'drawing criticism from both sides of the aisle.'
The proof of that supposed outrage, though, was two tweets – both apparently from right-leaning accounts.
'One online critic said this is a big fail because 'ice cream tanks your testosterone, spikes your risk of diabetes, and wrecks your metabolism.' I bet our HHS secretary would agree with that,' Trump said, reading a post from a self-described 'canceled scientist' who added that conservatives shouldn't be 'acting like it's some huge win.'
'Another said this ad 'is gonna melt liberal minds,' and now they want to eat ice cream,' Trump continued, reading off another X post. Neither tweet, however, showed someone from the left criticizing the ad.
Yet, the rest of the panel conversation centered on how Baskin-Robbins should 'really lean into this' and not 'cave to the woke mob' because American Eagle 'got a boost from President Trump', and saw its stock price jump.
'Are they going to stand by their girl Sydney Sweeney, Baskin-Robbins?' Trump wondered despite the lack of any actual uproar over this month-old commercial.
'I hope they do! I'm not sick of her whatsoever. I think she's amazing,' co-host Emily Compagno reacted.
Indeed, as liberal media watchdog Media Matters reported Thursday, the conservative cable giant devoted nearly five hours of airtime to the American Eagle advertisement since July 28. The network, which has made a concerted effort in recent weeks to downplay the ongoing controversy over the Trump administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, only discussed that story for a total of 40 minutes.
'So, David, liberals are already melting down about this,' Lara Trump claimed, turning to panelist David Webb. 'But to Emily's point, she's cute, she's funny, you've gotta embrace this stuff! Are they really going to start melting down on the left over the ice cream?'
Insisting that the 'left just melts down to begin with,' Webb went on to gush over Sweeney and her commercials, describing them as 'so Americana' and a throwback to Brooke Shields' famous Calvin Klein ad campaign -- though he incorrectly claimed Shields was pitching Jordache jeans.
'It was that American girl aspiration. You were a guy who wants to see a girl in her Jordache jeans. This is just advertising, folks. The left just can't help themselves,' he added.
Doubling down on what the rest of the panel was selling, Fox News contributor Lisa Marie Boothe noted that while 'David was talking about how the left is melting down,' they also 'bully.'
She went on to proclaim that liberals 'lost their ability to do so when President Trump won the popular vote.'
After Trump mentioned how much fun she was having reading the comments on the Baskin-Robbins ad's YouTube page -- because conservatives were declaring that 'America is back' -- Fox News correspondent Alicia Acuna weighed in.
'I think that is the point for some of this, because the backlash against the backlash is so fun to watch,' Acuna stated.
While MAGA media – and especially Fox News – feasted on the supposed liberal meltdown over the Sweeney ad, the New York Times reported Thursday that analysis of social media data revealed that conservative influencers with large followings were responsible for creating the outrage cycle in the first place.
'In reality, most progressives weren't worked up much at all,' the New York Times noted. 'Criticism of the ad campaign had come almost entirely from a smattering of accounts with relatively few followers, according to an analysis of social media data by The New York Times. Conversation about the ad did not escalate online or in traditional media until days later, after right-leaning influencers, broadcasters and politicians began criticizing what they described as a wave of progressive outrage.'
Of course, this isn't a new tactic for the conservative media sphere, which has long specialized in focusing on the hot takes of a handful of little-known progressive accounts or a single op-ed about culture war issues to whip up their audience into a righteous fury, all with the hopes of it breaking through into the national discourse.
'This is a crystal clear illustration of how right-wing media's outrage-industrial complex works,' CNN's Andrew Kirell wrote in Reliable Sources this week.
'It all begins with a viral, often audacious post, typically from an obscure social media account, which then gets amplified by MAGA media influencers who dishonestly declare that it represents the entirety of the 'left.''
He concluded: 'From there, it reaches critical mass at Fox News — the final boss of conservative media — until Trump personally weighs in, generating more coverage and breathing new life into the outrage cycle. Rinse, repeat.'
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