Sabrina Carpenter's Most Controversial Moments

Sabrina Carpenter is working late because she's a singer, and likely so is her PR team because this pop star loves drama. She hit her big break in 2022 with the release of her album "Emails I Can't Send" and has been sitting pretty at the top of the charts ever since. She's become close with Taylor Swift and even found herself a boyfriend in actor Barry Keoghan.

However, as a former Disney Channel star, Carpenter isn't always the goody two shoes she once portrayed on "Girl Meets World" and has been known to turn heads with her actions. Take the case of her September 2024 performance at the MTV Video Music Awards, in which she was seen kissing a female backup dancer dressed as an alien. This bold move came just one day after the 2024 presidential debate in which Republican nominee Donald Trump claimed "illegal aliens" were getting "transgender operations" in prison. On X, formerly Twitter, fans were in awe of Carpenter's seemingly intentional nod to Trump's comment the night before. "She's so iconic for this. She just did the newest version of Madonna x Britney's moment," opined one fan.

Indeed, it seems that Carpenter loves to make a scene, but when you have the whole world watching you, not everyone is going to admire your every action. The singer has had plenty of controversial moments since launching her career.

It wasn't long after Olivia Rodrigo dropped her breakout hit "Driver's License" in 2021, that fans started to speculate that it was about Rodrigo's relationship with Joshua Basset, who she starred in Disney+'s "High School Musical" reboot with. But, as Rodrigo implied in the song, Basset seemingly had another woman in the picture. "And you're probably with that blonde girl / Who always made me doubt / She's so much older than me / She's everything I'm insecure about," Rodrigo sings.

While Rodrigo has never confirmed those lyrics are about Sabrina Carpenter, Basset went public with his relationship with Carpenter after ending things with Rodrigo, making it pretty clear that the "Espresso" crooner was "that blonde girl." It's unclear if there was any overlap between Basset's relationship with Rodrigo and his relationship with Carpenter. Even if there wasn't, it definitely doesn't paint Carpenter in the best light for Rodrigo fans.

Carpenter seemingly responded to Rodrigo's lyrics in her song "Skin," with the lyrics "Maybe we could've been friends / If I met you in another life ... Maybe you didn't mean it / Maybe blonde was the only rhyme." Not everyone was thrilled that Carpenter responded, especially given the fact that Carpenter is four years older than Rodrigo. When "Skin" was released in 2021, one person tweeted "not her beefing with a 17 year old."

Sabrina Carpenter's music video for her song "Feather" caused a lot of controversy with the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Brooklyn, New York, where she filmed some scenes. In the video, she is seen attending a funeral with the deceased being her ex. However, she is by no means sad about this loss and is instead celebrating letting go of this toxic guy. "RIP B****" is seen written on the coffin in the church as Carpenter romps around in a non-clergy-approved tiny black dress. The video also showed several men fighting over Carpenter and eventually killing each other over her.

Shortly after its release, the Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn released a statement to Catholic News Agency claiming the diocese's lead, Bishop Robert Brennan, "is appalled at what was filmed at Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Brooklyn." To move past Carpenter's actions, he held a Mass of Reparation, which "restored the sanctity of this church and repaired the harm." A few days later, he also dismissed Monsignor Jamie Gigantiello, who let Carpenter shoot the video there.

In an unexpected plot twist, Sabrina Carpenter's blasphemous "Feather" music video may have also indirectly led to the indictment of New York City Mayor Eric Adams in September 2024. Days after he was indicted, Carpenter teased that she may have played a role in what went down while performing at Madison Square Garden, saying, "Damn, what now?" while looking out at the crowd. "Should we talk about how I got the mayor indicted, or..."

pic.twitter.com/UKfB48Oy7u

— lara (@gotublocked) September 30, 2024

How exactly did this happen? Well, a week before Adams made headlines for being indicted, the church where Carpenter shot her music video, the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Brooklyn, was subpoenaed regarding its relations between Monsignor Jamie Gigantiello (who had been demoted for letting Carpenter film there) and Adams' ex-chief of staff Frank Carone. It appears that Carpenter's music video seemingly put the church on the cops' radar regarding corruption.

Back in 2017, Sabrina Carpenter was embroiled in legal drama after her former music managers sued her for allegedly not paying them commissions after they were unexpectedly fired. Per The Hollywood Reporter, Stan Rogow and Elliot Lurie sued Carpenter, her parents, and her manager Bill Perlman, for breach of contract. In the complaint, attorney Neville Johnson wrote: "Plaintiffs worked tirelessly to promote Sabrina and her music until their services were terminated, without cause."

The pair began working with Carpenter in 2011, signing a music management agreement under which they would get half of Perlman's commissions. But when they were abruptly given the boot in 2014, they claimed they were snubbed commissions for Carpenter's albums "Eyes Wide Open" and "Evolution." The case was dismissed the following year, and Carpenter seemingly shaded Rogow and Lurie in her song "Sue Me," which was released that same year.

Sabrina Carpenter has been known to get creative when performing her hit "Nonsense." In the song's outro, she usually sings: "Woke up this morning, thought I'd write a pop hit / How quickly can you take your clothes off? Pop quiz." But as of late, she's been tailoring the lyrics to match her performance.

While performing the song on BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge, her ad-libbed outro did not go over well. She sang: "I'm American, I am not British, so BBC it stands for something different / This live lounge is so lit because I'm in it, innit?" While BBC stands for British Broadcasting Corporation, her mention of it was seemingly a description of something more explicit.

BBC Radio 1 deleted her performance of "Nonsense" for its inappropriate content. However, the video was later uploaded to YouTube with the lyrics in question cut.

Just as Sabrina Carpenter was entangled in a love triangle with Olivia Rodrigo and Joshua Bassett, she was in a similar situation with Shawn Mendes and his ex, Camila Cabello. Except this time, Mendes seemingly left Carpenter to reconcile with Cabello, and naturally, Carpenter couldn't move past it without expressing her feelings through a few telling lyrics. Mendes and Cabello dated from 2019 to 2021. In February 2023, Carpenter and Mendes started hanging out, but Mendes shut down rumors that they were dating in an interview with RTL the following month. By April 2023, Mendes and Cabello were seen hooking up at Coachella, and it seemed like they were back together — only for them to break up again in June.

Following her brief romance with Mendes, Carpenter allegedly referenced him and Cabello in her Christmas EP "Fruitcake," released in November 2023, and her album "Short N Sweet," released in August 2024. In the latter album, Carpenter's songs "Coincidence" and "Taste" hinted that Mendes had cheated on her with Cabello, which fueled her resentment toward them.

Cabello also seemingly took a shot at Carpenter on her song "June Gloom" from her album "C, XOXO (Magic City Edition)," though her lyrics were much more tame than Carpenter's. It's sad to see Carpenter and Cabello now at odds because of Mendes, especially considering that Carpenter said she "loved" Cabello and was "such a huge fan" during a "Music Video Live Chat" in 2021.