During her live set at Coachella over the weekend, Sabrina Carpenter apologised for mistaking Zaghrouta, a celebrity Arabic chant for a yodel.
Last Friday while the Expresso singer was performing on stage, a member of the audience can be heard making a high-pitched cheer, which she struggled to hear clearly over the crowd.
In the footage which has since gone viral, Carpenter can be heard saying: “I think I heard someone yodel,” she said from the stage while she sat behind a piano. “Is that what you’re doing? I don’t like it".
In fact, the fan was chanting a traditional Arabic chant, known as Zhaghrouta, a thrilling vocal, which indicates celebration.
Elsewhere in the video, the audience member could be heard responding to Carpenter's comments by saying: "It's my culture", with an unsure Carpenter replying “That’s your culture, is yodeling?”.
The fan replied: "It's called a celebration", to which Carpenter added: “Is this Burning Man? What’s going on? This is weird".
This interaction was met with strong criticism for Carpenter, with one post on X writing: “sabrina saying that she doesn’t like a cultural arabic cheer… this is so insensitive and islamophobic. i am very disappointed in her".
Taking to social media, Sabrina Carpenter has since apologised for this interaction.
“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!” I welcome all cheers and yodels from here on out".
my apologies i didn’t see this person with my eyes and couldn’t hear clearly. 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 https://t.co/f3KuT8sggH— Sabrina Carpenter (@SabrinaAnnLynn) April 11, 2026
Prior to this live set, Sabrina Carpenter had teased that her live show Coachella would be her "most ambitious" to date.
"It's the most ambitious show I've ever done. 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," Carpenter stated. "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".
More on this story here.
