UPDATE 4/11/26 at 5:32 p.m. ET— Sabrina Carpenter addressed the backlash to her 2026 Coachella set, where she called a fan’s cultural chant “weird.”
“My apologies I didn’t see this person with my eyes and couldn’t hear clearly,” Carpenter wrote via X on Saturday, April 11. “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.”
Original story continues below:
While headlining the 2026 Coachella Music & Arts Festival, singer Sabrina Carpenter sparked backlash when she confused a fan’s cultural cry for a “weird” yodel.
In the middle of Carpenter’s Friday, April 11, set, one fan let out a zaghrouta chant. (A zaghrouta cheer is commonly bellowed by women in Arab-speaking communities to express overwhelming joy.) Carpenter, 26, confused the chant for a “yodel.”
“Is that what you’re doing? I don’t like it,” Carpenter said, according to social media footage. After the fan attempted to explain the zaghrouta, the singer added, “That’s your culture? Yodeling? Is this Burning Man? This is weird.”
Following Carpenter’s set, several social media users condemned the pop star’s now-viral reaction.
“Sabrina saying that she doesn’t like a cultural arabic cheer. This is so insensitive and islamophobic,” one social media user wrote via X on Friday. “I am very disappointed in her.”
Another fan tweeted, “Sabrina Carpenter mocking a zaghrouta as ‘yodeling’ after being educated on its culture is so nasty. Being uncultured and proud is actually a disease. The mean girl act isn’t cute anymore, it’s just xenophobic. She’s done.”
Carpenter has not publicly addressed the backlash. Us Weekly has reached out to reps for the Grammy winner for comment.
Carpenter, who made her Coachella debut in 2024, is no stranger to controversy. Her most recent album, Man’s Best Friend, raised eyebrows for its hypersexualized lyrics and video concepts. Carpenter, however, has been unbothered by the haters.
“I think it wouldn’t matter so much if I wasn’t a childhood figure for some people,” she told Variety in December 2025, referring to her childhood fame acting on Disney Channel. “I also can’t really help that. It’s not my fault that I got a job when I was 12 and you won’t let me evolve.”
She continued, “I always thought, ‘When I grow up, then I get to embrace my sexuality more. I don’t even know what that means yet!’ I don’t think they do. I wish I’d had more open conversations about all of it when I was younger, but people feel too scared to talk about it.”
Carpenter performed songs from Man’s Best Friend and her previous album, Short ‘N Sweet, during her Friday set.
“It’s the most ambitious show I’ve ever done,” Carpenter told Perfect magazine earlier this month, teasing her Coachella set. “It’s probably the most time I’ve ever had to actually just sit down and talk about a show as I’m building it. Most of the time, you’re really quickly thrust into physical rehearsals, but this time around we started this process around seven months ago. So it’s been a long journey. It will be very special.”
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