Singer Sabrina Carpenter has apologised on X after calling Zaghrouta, an Arabic celebration call, “weird” after mistaking it with yodelling during her Coachella performance Friday night.
The singer, who headlined the music festival this year, was performing on stage when she heard the celebration call. “I think I heard someone yodel,” she said, to laughter.
“Is that what you’re doing?” she asked. “I don’t like it.”
When the person in the crowd yelled, “It’s my culture,” she responded, “That’s your culture, is yodelling?”
The fan could then be heard saying, “It’s a call of celebration.” Carpenter quipped, “Is this Burning Man? What’s going on? This is weird.”
The Zaghrouta is a celebratory ululation, common in Arab countries.
Carpenter received a lot of backlash online for her comments, with people calling her tone deaf and insensitive.
She issued an apology on X, saying she didn’t “see this person with my eyes and couldn’t hear her clearly”. “My reaction was pure confusion, sarcasm and not ill intended. Could have handled it better!”
The singer wrote that she now knows what a Zaghrouta is and welcomed all cheers and yodels from here on out.
Carpenter is one of several artists headlining Coachella this year, along with Justin Bieber and Karol G.
