Sabrina Carpenter took to X to address a crowd interaction during her Coachella set that drew online criticism.
During her headlining performance at the festival, Carpenter reacted to a sound from the crowd that she initially mistook for yodeling. The noise was later identified as a zaghrouta, a celebratory vocal expression used in parts of the Middle East and North Africa.
Onstage, Carpenter responded with visible confusion. The fan clarified that the sound was “part of my culture,” to which Carpenter replied, “Part of your culture is yodeling?” The exchange sparked backlash across social media, with some viewers accusing the singer of being dismissive.
Carpenter later took to X (formerly Twitter) to clarify her intentions and apologize.
“My apologies, I didn’t see this person with my eyes and couldn’t hear clearly,” she wrote. “My reaction was pure confusion, sarcasm and not ill intended. Could have handled it better! Now I know what a Zaghrouta is!”
She added that she welcomes “all cheers and yodels” moving forward.
Elsewhere in her Coachella headlining debut, Carpenter had Hollywood cameos from Sam Elliott, Susan Sarandon and Will Ferrell. She joked, “If I said that and I didn’t headline, it’d be pretty fucking awkward,” in reference to a remark she made in 2024 when she told fans, “See you again when I headline.”
Carpenter is one of festival’s headliners this year, performing across two weekends with Justin Bieber and Karol G.
