The sports and fashion worlds collided in controversy this week after Dawn Staley, the Hall of Fame coach who led South Carolina to an undefeated 2024 season, delivered a powerful, unfiltered rebuke of American Eagle.
At the center of the storm: the company’s decision to feature Sydney Sweeney, the white Hollywood actress, instead of Angel Reese, the LSU basketball star, in a new denim campaign meant to celebrate “American confidence.”
What began as a corporate marketing rollout quickly spiraled into one of the year’s most polarizing cultural debates — one about race, legacy, and who gets to represent the face of “American style.”
The Spark
The controversy ignited when American Eagle unveiled its fall fashion campaign on Wednesday. The imagery was glossy and sleek — Sydney Sweeney leaning against a vintage car in distressed jeans, smiling beneath the tagline “Confidence, Freedom, and the American Spirit.”
But within hours, social media erupted with criticism from fans of Angel Reese, who had reportedly been in talks with the brand earlier this year. Reese, a two-time NCAA All-American and national champion known for her charisma and cultural impact, had been celebrated as a “trailblazer for young women of color.”
When she was passed over, many saw more than a simple business decision — they saw a snub.
Enter Dawn Staley
By Thursday afternoon, Dawn Staley had seen enough.
The 54-year-old Hall of Famer, Olympic gold medalist, and one of the most respected voices in women’s basketball went live on Instagram from her Columbia, South Carolina office. Her tone was calm, but her eyes burned with conviction.
“They picked her over Angel?” she asked, her voice steady but seething. “A white girl with no roots in this legacy? Jeans ain’t just fabric — they’re ours.”
She paused, then leaned closer to the camera.
“Enslaved Black hands stitched the first ones in the 1800s for Levi’s, and now American Eagle acts like Sydney invented the wheel.”
The clip spread like wildfire. Within an hour, the video had been viewed over two million times. By the end of the night, it had surpassed ten million — and “#JeansAreBlackLegacy” was trending nationwide.
The Historical Context
Staley’s reference wasn’t rhetorical. Historians confirm that the earliest denim workwear in America was indeed sewn and assembled by enslaved Black laborers in the 19th century. Levi Strauss & Co. profited enormously from that unpaid craftsmanship, selling “sturdy riveted pants” made from fabrics often dyed and sewn by enslaved workers in the American South.
To Staley, the issue wasn’t just about a modeling campaign — it was about erasure.
“They want the culture, the rhythm, the look,” she said during her livestream, “but they don’t want the people who built it. Angel Reese embodies that history — she wears it with pride. To replace her with someone who’s never had to fight to be seen is not just tone-deaf; it’s disrespectful.”
Her words hit a national nerve.
Public Reaction
The internet divided instantly.
Supporters flooded social media with messages of solidarity for both Staley and Reese. Prominent activists, athletes, and artists — including rapper Killer Mike, actress Taraji P. Henson, and journalist Jemele Hill — echoed Staley’s demand for a formal apology.
“Dawn Staley didn’t just say it — she taught a history lesson,” Hill wrote on X. “When she says jeans are a Black legacy, she’s not exaggerating. She’s reminding America who really built its fashion empire.”
On TikTok, creators began posting side-by-side comparisons of Angel Reese’s denim photo shoots and the American Eagle campaign. One viral post read, “Angel Reese represents the grind. Sydney represents the gloss. And America always picks gloss.”
But others pushed back, accusing Staley of “playing the race card.”
Conservative commentator Tomi Lahren wrote,
“So now jeans are racist? Enough already. Sydney Sweeney didn’t do anything wrong — she got a job.”
Her tweet received backlash but also thousands of likes, proving how deeply divided the country remains over representation and cultural ownership.
Angel Reese’s Response
Through it all, Angel Reese herself remained poised.
Late Thursday night, she posted a short message to X:
“Respect to Coach Staley. I know what I bring. I’ll keep shining.”
The post was retweeted more than 50,000 times within an hour. Her supporters read it as quiet confidence — a statement of self-worth without adding more fuel to the fire.
One fan commented,
“That’s the difference between a moment and a movement. Angel doesn’t need to clap back — the culture already did it for her.”
The Company’s Silence
As outrage spread, American Eagle remained notably silent. The brand disabled comments on its Instagram page and did not immediately release a statement.
Behind the scenes, according to a source close to the company, executives were “taken aback” by the backlash and “reconsidering their messaging.”
“American Eagle wanted a clean, aspirational image,” the insider said. “They didn’t anticipate it would turn into a cultural reckoning.”
But for Dawn Staley, silence wasn’t acceptable.
“If you profit from Black labor, Black art, and Black style,” she said, “you don’t get to stay quiet when the people who built that legacy ask for respect. You owe this country an apology.”
Beyond Fashion: A Deeper Fight
To many observers, the controversy has grown beyond denim or celebrity endorsements — it has become a flashpoint in a larger discussion about how America still markets culture created by Black people while sidelining them from recognition and profit.
Cultural critic Dr. Amani Brooks told The American Herald:
“What Staley articulated is what many feel but can’t always express — that the symbols of American pride, from jeans to jazz, are built on the backs of Black history. To ignore that truth is to keep rewriting the story in someone else’s image.”
Brooks added that the timing of the incident — during Black History Month marketing campaigns — made it “especially tone-deaf.”
A Call That Echoes
By Friday morning, Staley’s livestream had reached national news networks. ABC, CNN, and ESPN all aired segments about her comments. The phrase “A Black Legacy” began appearing in think pieces, op-eds, and fashion columns across major outlets.
At a press briefing later that day, a journalist asked Staley if she regretted her words. Her answer was immediate.
“No. I said what needed to be said. If that makes people uncomfortable, maybe it’s time they look at why.”
The Power of Truth
As of publication, American Eagle still has not issued a public apology. But the cultural impact of Dawn Staley’s statement has already taken root.
Thousands of social media users have pledged to boycott the brand until it formally acknowledges its historical debt to Black labor and issues a statement addressing Angel Reese’s exclusion.
Meanwhile, several Black-owned fashion designers have reached out to Reese directly, offering her partnership opportunities that celebrate authenticity rather than image.
The Final Word
For Dawn Staley, this was never about tearing down another woman — it was about reminding America who built its icons.
Jeans, she argued, were not born in fashion boardrooms or celebrity dressing rooms. They were born in fields and factories, stitched by hands that history tried to forget.
“Jeans were invented by us, for us,” she said. “It’s a Black legacy.”
Her voice trembled slightly as she finished her livestream, then she smiled.
“And if they forgot that, well — we’re here to remind them.”
The video ended. The silence that followed was anything but empty. It was the sound of a country being forced, once again, to confront the threads of its own history — woven deep into every fabric it wears.