Sabrina Carpenter ignites fierce feud over cultural faux pas as other furious stars weigh in

Sabrina Carpenter has ignited a fierce debate about ‘cultural appropriation’ following her Saturday Night Live performance.

The singer, 26, appeared on the popular show over the weekend, where she performed some of her biggest hits, participated in a slew of comical skits, and delivered a lengthy monologue during which she poked fun at a few of her past scandals.

But one particular moment from the episode has ignited a heated argument online, after a furious star hit out at the Espresso songstress’ creative team and claimed they referenced a specific culture but didn’t do enough research on it.

Japanese singer Rina Sawayama took to her Instagram Stories after the show aired to share her disapproval over Carpenter‘s performance of the song Nobody’s Son.

The popstar dressed in a tiny white robe and black belt as she did some martial arts moves in a dojo-inspired set.

But Sawayama was unamused that Carpenter and her dancers wore shoes on a tatami mat – a soft floor material used in traditional Japanese-style rooms – during the performance.

‘Big love to Sabrina but fellow artists’ creative teams… if we are clearly referencing a culture, please can you do so with the research, respect, and care it deserves?’ she wrote. ‘Shoes on tatami is jail.’

But when the popular X (formerly Twitter) account PopCrave shared a screenshot of Sawayama’s post on the platform, it sparked a massive debate about whether or not Carpenter had done anything wrong.

Many defended the hitmaker and pointed out that wearing shoes on stage was likely for safety.

‘I wonder if people had to wear shoes because they were onstage at a live show with tons of moving parts and safety concerns and they were not on an actual tatami,’ one user fired back.

‘If Sabrina Carpenter had been Beyoncé or Rina herself, this would’ve been called “artistic homage” and nobody would bat an eye,’ another theorized.

‘Cultural respect is important, yes, but the rules seem to only apply when it’s convenient for Twitter to virtue-signal.’

‘I don’t think there’s masses of Japanese people who care about this. Sometimes a fun performance is just a fun performance and it doesn’t need to be hyper analyzed,’ someone else chimed in.

‘It wasn’t a tatami it was a stage, shoes are a safety requirement… also we are NOT doing cultural appropriation discourse in 2025 PLEASE,’ read a fourth tweet.

‘Who the f**k cares? She probably didn’t want to be barefoot on stage,’ a fifth said.

Others, however, branded Sawayama’s point as ‘valid’ and praised her for being ‘polite’ in her criticism.

‘Rina’’s point about cultural respect is valid, tatami etiquette is a big deal in Japan, and a quick Google search could’ve avoided this,’ one person penned.

‘But the creative team’s lack of research reflects a broader issue in pop: prioritizing aesthetics over authenticity.’

‘Props to Rina Sawayama for supporting Sabrina and placing the blame on the set designers/team instead of encouraging disparaging narratives between female artists,’ complimented another.

‘Well said, Rina. Appreciation without understanding always ends up looking lazy. It’s not about canceling anyone, it’s about caring enough to get it right when you borrow from someone else’s culture,’ someone else explained.

‘Rina is absolutely right. Research, respect, and care are essential when using cultural references. It’s a responsibility toward both art and culture,’ a fourth post read.

A fifth said: ‘This is a great example of POLITE, VALID criticism regarding an important topic.

‘If you’re going to borrow from a culture, the bare minimum is getting it right. It’s not deep it’s just respect. Rina’s right to call it out,’ agreed a different user.

Carpenter kicked off her opening monologue by addressing the backlash she received over the cover of her album Man’s Best Friend – which was released back in August.

It showed her on all fours in front of a man who was pulling her hair; the man’s face was not visible in the image as Carpenter looked towards the camera.

The former Disney channel star expressed: ‘Some people got a little freaked out by the cover.

‘I’m not sure why. It was just this: me on all fours, with an unseen figure pulling my hair. But what people don’t realize is that’s just how they cropped it.’

She then humorously explained, ‘If you zoom out, it’s clearly a picture from the 50th anniversary special of Bowen (Yang) helping me up by the hair.

‘After Martin Short shoved me out of the buffet line, saying something like, “Daddy need his mini quiche.”‘

An image of Yang – who was absent from the episode due to attending the Academy Museum Gala in LA – appeared to show him holding Carpenter’s hair with Martin Short also cropped in.