Sabrina Carpenter Apologises After Calling Fan's Zaghrouta Celebration At Coachella 'Weird'

Sabrina Carpenter has apologised after insulting one fan who performed an Arabic vocal celebration during her Coachella set.

On Friday night, the Espresso singer delivered her first headlining performance at the Coachella music festival, where she whizzed through all of her biggest hits and was joined on stage by a number of surprise guests.

During a quieter moment of the set, Sabrina was seemingly taken aback when she heard someone in the crowd doing a zaghrouta, a vocal trill often heard at Arabic celebrations.

“I think I heard someone yodel,” she responded. “Is that what you’re doing? I don’t like it.”

When the fan in question shouted back that the gesture was part of their “culture”, the Grammy winner retorted: “That’s your culture? Yodelling? Is this Burning Man? What’s going on? This is weird.”

Footage of the incident was then circulated online, with one since-deleted clip racking up 30 million views on X alone.

Responding to one critic accusing her of being “insensitive and Islamophobic”, Sabrina wrote back on Saturday night: “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.”

She then conceded that she “could have handled it better” now that she knows “what a Zaghrouta is”.

“I welcome all cheers and yodels from here on out,” Sabrina added.

Joining Sabrina as headliners at Coachella this year were Justin Bieber – who raised eyebrows with his own low-key set ending with him scrolling YouTube and singing along with some of his own hits on Saturday – and Karol G.

Sabrina’s set featured elaborate performances of hits including Espresso, Manchild and Taste, as well as on-stage appearances from Will Ferrell, Susan Sarandon and her former Disney Channel co-star Corey Fogelmanis.

Coachella will return for its second weekend of 2026 later this week.