The Patriot Post® · Sabrina Carpenter Gets Burned by Cancel Culture
For those of us who are neither young nor hip, you may not have had any idea that Coachella is happening right now in California. This music festival has become quite well-known among certain demographics because it has turned into a fashion confab of sorts for social media influencers who otherwise are relegated to their platforms.
On Friday night, singer-songwriter Sabrina Carpenter was the headliner. Carpenter is a former Disney Channel star turned pop star who experienced a meteoric rise to fame. She is known for her quick wit and sarcastic quips. But at Coachella, her fans determined that she was to be canceled.
Carpenter has certainly done plenty of assailable things. For example, one of her crude schticks is demonstrating a different sexual position on stage. Moreover, her songs often feature murderous fantasies of men. Ironically, these legitimate offenses are considered kosher by the feminist Left.
Most of Carpenter’s numbers are bouncy. But during Friday’s performance, when she was trying to set a calmer mood for a more serious song, an ululation broke the otherwise mostly silent crowd.
A confused Carpenter said, “I think I heard someone yodel.” The audience member who disrupted the mood responded, but you could tell Carpenter could not quite hear the reply, so she again asked if the person was yodeling. Carpenter went on to say, “I don’t like it.”
This “reprimand” was said in such a way that you could tell Carpenter was trying to get a laugh from the audience, not make a mean comment. However, the disruptive audience member was not done, replying, “It’s my culture.” To which Carpenter sarcastically responded, “Your culture is yodeling?” She then went back to the business of singing.
Sabrina Carpenter is being lauded as “very, very based” for mocking a woman’s Indian Yell during a concert.
— Ian Miles Cheong (@ianmiles) April 12, 2026
“Is that your culture? I don’t like it.” pic.twitter.com/JAi4XHj9cK
This short little exchange sparked a firestorm of fan fury. The ululation was what is known as zaghrouta — an Arab sort of cheer performed at special events like weddings. Because Carpenter said she did not like the noise, some of her fans declared her a “bigot,” a “xenophobe,” and an “Islamophobe.”
For the record, zaghrouta is Arab, not Islamic. Ironically, these ignorant fans are the ones being bigoted by putting all Arab people in a box.
Anyway, is it bigoted to try to get a fan to quit being disruptive? Is it xenophobic to question why someone is being loud during a mood-shift section of a performance? No.
Dealing with disruptive fans is always a challenge for pop stars. Very few come away from those encounters looking good. However, this explosion of online outrage by leftists who insist that Carpenter is an ignorant white supremacist is outsized.
Carpenter issued an apology — which is always a mistake — posting, “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.” (Grammar in the original.)
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!
— Sabrina Carpenter (@SabrinaAnnLynn) April 11, 2026
I welcome all cheers and yodels from here on out https://t.co/f3KuT8sggH
Apologizing just feeds the beast, as those who are trying to cancel her feel justified in their anger because she admitted wrongdoing.
Carpenter should not have to know what zaghrouta is. Leftists assume that those whom they idolize must memorize the dictionary of every cultural norm, and they can never, ever misstep. They forget that people are human and fallible.
The Daily Wire’s Maggie Anders put it best: “For radical progressive pop fans, God is replaced by the pop star. In this role, it isn’t enough for Sabrina Carpenter to be exceptional; she must be perfect. If she is human, like the rest of us, then she doesn’t deserve the lights, the stage, the celebrity cameos, and most importantly, the money that comes with being at the top.”
Regardless, Sabrina Carpenter has been canceled by some of her fans — for now. It will be short-lived, though. The next celebrity will fall on the sword soon enough, and Sabrina Carpenter’s so-called imbroglio will be a thing of the past.