Americanswers… on 5 Live! Why has Sydney Sweeney's jeans ad sparked a race debate?

Americast

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Monday, 4 August 2025 - 35 minutes

On this week’s Q&A, why is Donald Trump personally endorsing a jeans advert with Sydney Sweeney? The US president calls it a ‘fantastic’ ad - but the campaign has sparked claims of racism and a row over promoting eugenics? Justin and Marianna also talk about the convicted child sex offender, Ghislaine Maxwell, who has been moved to a new minimum-security facility in Texas. Why has this been sanctioned, and could the move foreshadow a pardon from the president? And how can Trump fire the head of one of America’s most important economic institutions because he didn’t like the latest job statistics? ?From South Park censorship to jeans and submarines, Matt Chorley, Justin and Marianna answer your questions on 5 Live.HOSTS:
• Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter
• Marianna Spring, Social Media Investigations Correspondent
presenter
• Matt Chorley, 5 Live presenter GET IN TOUCH:
• Join our online community: https://discord.gg/qSrxqNcmRB
• Send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 9480
• Email Americast@bbc.co.uk
• Or use #AmericastThis episode was made by Rufus Gray with Alix Pickles and Grace Reeve. The technical producer was Dafydd Evans. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
If you want to be notified every time we publish a new episode, please subscribe to us on BBC Sounds by hitting the subscribe button on the app.You can now listen to Americast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Americast”. It works on most smart speakers.US Election Unspun: Sign up for Anthony’s BBC newsletter: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68093155Americast is part of the BBC News Podcasts family of podcasts. The team that makes Americast also makes lots of other podcasts, including The Global Story, The Today Podcast, and of course Newscast and Ukrainecast. If you enjoy Americast (and if you're reading this then you hopefully do), then we think that you will enjoy some of our other pods too. See links below.
The Global Story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/w13xtvsd
Radical with Amol Rajan: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0gg4k6r
Newscast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/p05299nl
Ukrainecast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0bqztzm

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