Levi Strauss & Co.

Conservative commentator Megyn Kelly launched a scathing critique of Beyoncé’s latest denim campaign—a Levi advertisement featuring the pop superstar. Kelly posted on X, declaring: “This is the opposite of the Sydney Sweeney ad. Quite clearly there is nothing natural about Beyoncé.”

She continued: “Everything — from her image to her fame to her success to her look below — is bought and paid for… Screams artificial, fake, enhanced, trying too hard.”

This week, Beyoncé’s company shared a teaser video introducing her new Levi’s campaign, which includes her album track explicitly titled “LEVII’S JEANS.” 

The video blurs the line between advertisement and music video, showcasing the partnership between the Grammy-winning performer and American denim staple Levi’s.

In the video, Beyoncé portrays a pool shark clad in head-to-toe denim —a nod to the lyrics from her track “Levii’s Jeans.” The song itself plays throughout the clip, reinforcing the commercial’s dual purpose as both art and advertisement. Levi’s followed up the video with a series of promotional images on social media, highlighting the final outfit Queen Bey wears in the video, throwing in a diamond grill for her teeth.

The rollout comes on the heels of the highly charged cultural conversation ignited by American Eagle’s earlier ad campaign featuring Sydney Sweeney.

That campaign—titled “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans”—used a pun between “jeans” and “genes.” In one ad, Sweeney crosses out the word “genes” on a billboard and replaces it with “jeans.” Another spot features her saying: “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring… My jeans are blue.” Critics accused the ad of evoking eugenicist language and implying a white beauty ideal via Sweeney’s appearance and phrasing.

American Eagle responded publicly, insisting the campaign *“is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans. Her story”—and clarifying that “great jeans look good on everyone.”

It turns out that Kelly and Knowles have a history of trading barbs dating back to the release of the singer’s country music album. Listen to Kelly below:

Levi Strauss & Co.