Sabrina Carpenter at Coachella: Why her ‘weird’ comment is cringe for students

“First and foremost: Sabrina Carpenter has mostly chosen to stand on the right side of history. In 2024, she donated to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, raised by Nicola Coughlan. In 2025, she condemned the White House for using her song “Juno” to overlay a video of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. But sometimes, only paying attention to the big causes isn’t enough. When I see Sabrina Carpenter on stage at Coachella — supposedly a celebration of music and identity — looking at one of her fans who’d cried a Zaghrouta with a near-disgusted look on her face, I think first of international students, and how they know that expression all too well. View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Project (@theprojecttv) It’s one that spells microaggression even if without intention, and I think it’s more than okay to hold Sabrina Carpenter accountable for it. She may have done many things right, but she is only human. A white woman, at that. People make mistakes, and people can do better. Now, I understand it was amidst a Coachella crowd, and I would understand too if the fan’s voice was truly muffled. But you can quite literally see the exchange between the two on video. If you don’t think it’s that serious, let me put it into perspective for you. A fan decides to celebrate Carpenter through their own, unique culture. The Zaghrouta is a high-pitched, ululating sound often used by Arab women during joyous occasions, such as weddings or parties. In reaction, Carpenter nearly mocks the fan. She makes unnecessary comments such as, “That’s your culture…is yodelling?” The worst part is that you can hear the entire crowd laughing in tandem with the display of microaggression, laughing at someone’s culture . Frankly, when you’re the breakout pop star of the 2020s, it is that serious. Especially, when your face is now being used all over X to quote things people find disgusting. Yes, Carpenter has no control over the racists that already exist online, but making such a misstep is giving them ammunition. Sabrina Carpenter’s Coachella incident is a microcosm of today’s society Here’s the thing: it is far from the first time someone, a person of colour, has been subject to microaggressions in the US. Coming from a Malaysian who studied abroad in Iowa, you start to notice that while many are well-intentioned, white people somehow forget that there is an entire world that exists beyond Western and Eurocentric cultures. Casual racism, a British-Chinese student at Sheffield University in the UK pointed out, is simply a “fact of life” for international students. “One evening last year, I was taking out cash from an ATM. I heard from behind me: ‘Why is Jackie Chan taking so long?” the student wrote. “I had been there for a maximum of 20 seconds, but the student felt the need to say something that would highlight my race.” Oftentimes, it stems from your own peers. In a 2023 study of microaggressions, one participant reported that graduate students in the US often made covert insults about her Central American origins due to her strong mathematics background . In other words, they were jealous. “They would say how I from {country} could have a better background than them. I guess they thought that if you come from a Latin country, you cannot have a strong background,” she said. Another study found that, despite many studies historically investigating ways to improve international student engagement, less attention has been paid to their sense of belonging. Particularly, how it’s affected by microaggressions and neo-racism . What baffled me most was how many people would point out my perfect, “no accent” English. At the surface level, it’s a compliment, and there’s truly no harm done. But, take a second to ponder, and you start to wonder if people in the West really believe that those living beyond North America, the UK, or Australia are incapable of picking up fluent English. Also, what does not having an accent even mean? The day after her performance, Carpenter would take to X to issue an apology . “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,” the singer wrote. “Could have handled it better! Now I know what a Zaghrouta is! I welcome all cheers and yodels from here on out.” On the grand scheme of things, it’s not a big deal — not when we have literal abusers walking free down the streets. Many people online agree that this isn’t an issue worth getting angry over, with one post even saying the fan was “selfish” for shouting during a quieter moment in the set. Let me just say this: many things can be true at once. I don’t think the fan should’ve interrupted the show during a more intimate scene, but I also don’t think it warranted that reaction. Carpenter doesn’t have to know every single culture out there; I certainly don’t, but it doesn’t take much to be kinder. Not holding celebrities accountable for minor mistakes is not going to help the world become a more inclusive space, and it’s not going to get those abusers arrested any quicker, either. Enacting change starts with baby steps, and this is arguably the bare minimum. Carpenter’s exchange with the fan is certainly not enough to derail her career, but it is enough to make fans, particularly people of colour living in the West, feel alienated. Especially when many have to contend with those sorts of microaggressions on a daily basis, and often from white people. Language plays a huge role in shaping inclusivity, and if there’s one thing I could say to Sabrina Carpenter — not that she’s listening — it’s that I know she can do better.

Summary generated from the RSS feed of Study International. All article rights belong to the original publisher. Click through to read the full piece on www.studyinternational.com.