Sydney Sweeney and Scooter Braun's public display of affection has ignited a culture-war backlash that reaches far beyond celebrity gossip.
The Euphoria star and the music executive were photographed holding hands in New York City this week, a routine celebrity sighting that quickly became a flashpoint online as critics recycled long-running controversies attached to Braun.
The pair's appearances together, first widely noted after summer sightings in Venice and subsequent outings across Los Angeles and New York, have prompted praise from some quarters and fierce condemnation from others. Media outlets reported the New York sighting and said representatives were contacted for comment.
Public Sightings and the New York Outing
Sweeney and Braun have been seen together in public on several occasions since their romance rumours first emerged in mid-2025. Photographs from the latest outing show the couple walking hand-in-hand in Manhattan, following previous date-night appearances and shared celebrations earlier this year.
Tabloid outlets noted the couple's relaxed demeanour and reported sources who described the relationship as more than casual; Page Six and other outlets confirmed requests for comment from their representatives.
The photos themselves, social currency in modern celebrity culture, were widely reposted on Instagram and TikTok, fuelling a second wave of commentary that moved the story from 'who are they dating?' to 'what do their public positions mean?'
Braun's Own Statements and Pro-Israel Activism
Braun is not merely an anonymous figure in the background; his public statements and social-media posts in recent years have made his political sympathies plain to observers. Braun has posted videos and reels documenting trips to Israel and conversations with Israeli military personnel, writing in one caption, 'This is not a political trip. This is about humanity and...' — a line he used while describing emotional encounters and recollections from those visits.
Those posts have been circulated repeatedly by critics to argue that he is an active, outspoken supporter of Israel.
Braun has also appeared on video platforms reflecting on the October 7 attacks and the subsequent conflict, offering personal testimony about what he saw and heard and urging attention to victims' stories; such public interventions have amplified scrutiny of his political posture.
Critics who oppose Israeli government policy or who believe public figures have responsibilities to balance views on the conflict have seized on those posts as evidence of partisan alignment.
Social-Media Backlash: From 'Zionist' to 'Worst Couple'
The incendiary label that has circulated, branding the pair as 'a Zionist and a white supremacist' or calling them the 'worst couple', principally stems from the online tug-of-war over Braun's record and the wider culture wars that conflate support for Israel with other political stances.
On forums and social platforms, some commentators have employed hyperbolic rhetoric, while others have posted profanity-laced attacks and conspiratorial claims. Reddit threads and public Facebook posts show a spectrum of reactions, from mockery to outright hostility, with some users equating Braun's public pro-Israel posture with deeper ideological problems.
It is important to separate verified factual claims from rhetorical excess. While Braun's own posts confirm his visits to Israel and his vocal defence of Jewish communities online, there is no primary evidence in the public record, in Braun's posts, or in the photos of Sweeney and Braun together, that either figure has publicly espoused white-supremacist ideology in the manner critics allege.
What the record does show is a celebrity relationship unfolding in a hyper-polarised information environment, where social-media frames readily attach political meaning to private behaviour.
Public figures and their teams routinely navigate both paparazzi and political scrutiny; here, the consequence is that ordinary images of affection have been transformed into a test case for online outrage.
