Sydney Sweeney’s New Zealand Vacation Video Reignites Fierce Debate Among Fans
Sydney Sweeney has spent the summer showing off a very different side of her downtime, trading film sets for cliffside jumps and mountain trails. The ‘Euphoria’ star recently wrapped months of production on Netflix’s live action ‘Gundam’ movie in Australia, and she used the break to unwind in Queenstown, New Zealand alongside boyfriend Scooter Braun.
The pair, along with her ‘Gundam’ co-star Noah Centineo and a wider circle of friends, filled their trip with the kind of adrenaline heavy itinerary that has become something of a signature for Sweeney. She has been open about having many active hobbies, including shooting, mixed martial arts and a wide range of outdoor sports, and this getaway leaned fully into that reputation.
Sweeney posted a sprawling carousel to Instagram documenting the highlights, and it is one particular clip that has now become the center of online conversation. Several photos and videos from the trip showed Sweeney trying her hand at target shooting, including archery in the snow and footage of her firing at a clay pigeon. She also caught a helicopter ride over the ski fields, tried her hand at golf on a snowy fairway with the Southern Alps in the background, and rode one of the Shotover Jet’s red boats on the Shotover River.
Beyond the high flying activities, her travel diary featured a helicopter excursion, rifle target practice and a relaxed breakfast by the fireplace. She also shared footage of a cozy fireside breakfast complete with pancakes, orange juice and eggs. While the landscape shots and adventure heavy clips pulled in plenty of enthusiastic comments, the rifle footage drew criticism from some followers who assumed she was hunting birds.
This is far from the first time Sweeney’s relationship with firearms has become a talking point online. A 2019 clip of her practicing at a shooting range resurfaced last year and drew public praise from Donald Trump and members of the MAGA movement after he commented on her American Eagle jeans campaign. In that older video, captioned “training for my next project,” Sweeney could be seen firing rounds at a shooting range in preparation for an acting role, and it went viral all over again once her political affiliation became a topic of national conversation.
Fans on social media have been split down the middle over the New Zealand footage, with some framing it as consistent with the outdoorsy, adventurous persona Sweeney has cultivated for years, while others felt it clashed with the otherwise lighthearted vacation content. Sweeney captioned the overall trip post simply, describing it as a hop over to Queenstown, and reposted the same content to her Instagram Stories.
The debate arrives at a moment when Sweeney’s every move seems to generate outsized reaction, whether it involves a jeans commercial, a red carpet appearance, or now a vacation reel. With ‘Gundam’ still on the horizon and her public profile only growing, it seems unlikely this will be the last time her offscreen hobbies spark a firestorm online.
Do you think the backlash over Sweeney’s rifle target practice is fair, or is this just another example of fans reading too much into a celebrity’s vacation photos?
