Sabrina Carpenter apologizes for reaction to Arabic chant at Coachella

Brendan Morrow, USA TODAY Sun, April 12, 2026 at 3:23 PM UTC

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Sabrina Carpenter is apologizing over a controversial crowd interaction during her Coachella set.

The "Please Please Please" singer, 26, said on X she is sorry for her reaction to hearing a zaghrouta, an Arabic call of celebration, in the crowd while performing on April 10 at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California.

"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!" Carpenter wrote on April 11, adding, "I welcome all cheers and yodels from here on out."

Video footage circulated on social media showing the Grammy-winning pop star expressing confusion and displeasure after hearing a zaghrouta, which she mistook for a yodel, in the audience while on stage at Coachella. "Is that what you're doing? I don't like it," she said.

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Sabrina Carpenter's April 10 headlining set is played live on the video boards of the Coachella stage during Weekend 1 of Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif.

A fan could be heard yelling back, "It's my culture," to which the singer quipped, "That's your culture, is yodeling?" The person in the crowd could then be heard shouting, "It's a call of celebration," leading Carpenter to joke, "Is this Burning Man? What's going on? This is weird."

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ArabAmerica.com describes a zaghrouta as "a long, wavering, high-pitched vocal sound representing trills of joy" that is "commonly performed in weddings, parties, celebrations and sometimes in funerals to honor someone and to express strong emotions." In 2020, Shakira incorporated one into her Super Bowl halftime show performance, leading numerous news outlets to publish articles explaining the significance of the sound.

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Some fans on social media expressed outrage over Carpenter's reaction, including one user who called her comments "so insensitive and islamophobic" and added, "I am very disappointed in her."

Another X user wrote, "Do I think sabrina meant harm with her comment? no. do i think it highlights how little white women are conscious of things outside of themselves? yeah a little."

Sabrina Carpenter attends the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 1, 2026.

Carpenter headlined the first night of the music festival on April 10, performing a set that was filled with surprise celebrity cameos. Will Ferrell popped up to play a frustrated electrician, Susan Sarandon delivered a lengthy monologue during an interlude, and Samuel L. Jackson made a voice cameo as a spiritual guide, who was heard during a break in Carpenter's "Juno" performance.

This was Carpenter's first time headlining at Coachella. She previously performed at the festival in 2024 and predicted she would be back, singing, "Coachella, see you back here when I headline."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Sabrina Carpenter sorry for Coachella reaction to Arabic chant

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