Sabrina Carpenter has apologized after a comment made during her Coachella opening set sparked backlash, with some viewers saying it dismissed a fan’s cultural expression.
The singer’s Coachella appearance on April 10 was a major milestone, as she performed in front of a huge crowd, singing her songs, playing piano, and putting on an energetic show.
However, one brief exchange between songs quickly became the focus online. While taking a pause mid-performance, Carpenter halted at the piano and addressed something she thought she heard from the audience.
It started when the 26-year-old said: “I think I heard someone yodel.”
After appearing to pinpoint the source, she followed up with: “Is that what you’re doing?”
In clips shared to X, a woman can be heard explaining it was a celebratory call tied to her ‘culture’, but Carpenter replied: “I don’t like it.”
She then added: “That’s your culture, yodeling? Is this Burning Man [festival] what’s going on? This is weird.”
The moment drew criticism on social media, with some users arguing the call had been misidentified and that her response came off as disrespectful. One X user wrote: “Sabrina Carpenter is so ignorant, someone was doing a zaghroot (an arab cheer), and she called it yodelling and disrespectfully dismissed the fact that it was a part of the person’s culture, saying ‘she doesn’t like it.'”
Another person commented: “The way Sabrina doubled down and decided to continue to be ignorant even after it was clarified yodelling is part of that person’s culture says a lot about her,”
Carpenter later responded publicly and issued an apology, explaining that she hadn’t understood what was happening in the moment.
“My apologies, I didn’t see this person with my eyes and couldn’t hear clearly,” she wrote on X on April 12, two days after the video clips started spreading widely.
She continued, elaborating on her tone at the time: “My reaction was pure confusion, sarcasm and not ill intended. Could have handled it better! Now I know what a Zaghrouta is! I welcome all cheers and yodels from here on out.”
Following her post, some people also pushed back against the criticism and defended her. One person wrote: “She’s a pop star, not a f***ing anthropologist, leave Sabrina Carpenter alone.”
Another added: “I am Middle Eastern, I didn’t take offense, she didn’t understand and thought they were heckling her… yes she didn’t understand when they told her it’s cultural either because why would she? A Caucasian American who I’m assuming is not aware about the types of celebrations around the world.”
Representatives for Sabrina Carpenter have been contacted for comment.