Americanswers… on 5 Live! Why has Sydney Sweeney's jeans ad sparked a race debate?
Americast
BBC
4.2 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 4 August 2025
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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 [email protected] • Or use #Americast
This 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-68093155
Americast 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
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:04.9 | Hello, it is quarter to four in the afternoon in London on Monday. |
| 0:08.8 | We've just come off the air with Matt Chorley. |
| 0:11.0 | We've been answering your questions, as we always do, live on Five Live. |
| 0:14.7 | And we have had so many different questions. |
| 0:17.1 | This week you've been asking us all about Gane Maxwell and her moving prisons to one that's |
| 0:21.5 | less high security. We've done nuclear submarines as well. We've done South Park. We've done Donald Trump |
| 0:26.6 | firing the boss of one of America's most important economic institutions as well because apparently |
| 0:31.7 | didn't like the latest data on jobs. And we've been chatting about the actor Sidney-Sweeney because |
| 0:36.5 | she's appeared in this advert campaign about jeans, which has sparked a fair bit of controversy and conversation. |
| 0:43.8 | We made it sound all very serious because we weren't necessarily serious because you never are with Matt Chorley. Welcome to American Answers. |
| 0:52.3 | Ameriast. |
| 0:53.0 | AmeriCast from BBC News |
| 0:55.0 | God spared my life for a reason |
| 0:58.1 | Only when it is dark enough |
| 1:01.0 | Can you see the stars? |
| 1:03.0 | A star is born, Elon |
| 1:04.4 | I'm not just MAGA, I'm dark Gothic MAGA |
| 1:08.4 | This is what happens when the machine comes after you. |
| 1:11.6 | I'm terrified for this country and I'm so hurt that America let this happen. |
| 1:15.6 | I think that we just witnessed the greatest political comeback in the history of the United States of America. |
| 1:21.6 | We're all in London. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.