Sabrina Carpenter is a petty queen, through and through. The singer doesn’t shy away from an internet feud — especially when it comes to defending herself. Over the course of her career, she’s dabbled in plenty of messy moments, whether she’s taken her grievances to social media or the stage.
Take it from Carpenter herself: A woman’s ego is a precious thing. (In “Please Please Please,” she literally sings, “Heartbreak is one thing / My egos another / I beg you don't embarrass me / Motherf*cker.”) Turns out, that rule does not only apply to her beaus. Carpenter doesn’t appreciate being embarrassed — or called out — by anyone, and she has no problem making that known.
From Saturday Night Live performances to IG posts, Carpenter keeps things spicy (in a short n’ sweet way, of course). On X, formerly called Twitter, Carpenter’s penchant for pettiness has become popular among her fans. “you can always count on sabrina to be petty as hell,” one X user wrote. Another referred to Carpenter as “my short petty queen sabrina.” One went so far as to say, “i love how sabrina carpenter is a petty icon.”
Safe to say, Carpenter’s petty era is in full swing (complimentary). Here are her fans’ favorite moments so far.
“Would You Like To Speak To My Audio Engineers?”
After attending the Short n’ Sweet Tour, some TikTokers thought that the singer wasn’t performing live. In one video, a TikTok user claimed, “Hate to say it but 30% lip singing [sic] 30% backing track 40% singing.” Then, Carpenter herself showed up in the comments sections. She chimed in, “I sing live every show 100% would you like to speak to my audio engineers.”
Removing The Backing Track At Her Show
But Carpenter didn’t leave it there. At her next show in Hartford, Connecticut, she took her response a step further, removing the backing track to prove that she’s actually singing live. If that wasn’t a clear enough message, she also flipped the bird during her performance.
Fans didn’t mind the petty moment. On X, one fan responded to the Hartford show, “someone was claiming that sabrina sings 30%, lip[syncs] 30% and that other 40% is back tracks. so she turns off the backing track to show she’s actually singing. now that’s iconic petty behavior.”
Responding To Someone Who Said She “Fumbled” Her Second Single
Carpenter isn’t the type to ignore trolls. After releasing “Please Please Please” as her second single off of Short n’ Sweet, it topped the Billboard Hot 100. Afterwards, she gave a special shoutout to one hater.
On Instagram and X, Carpenter shared the Billboard achievement alongside a screenshot of a tweet about the song: “i dont think ive ever seen someone fumble a second single this heard. my goodness.” Then, the hater actually responded to Carpenter’s post on Instagram, “congrats diva! made me eat my words!”
Joking About The Mayor’s Indictment
In September, Carpenter performed at Madison Square Garden — and she made a quip about New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams. “Damn, what now? Should we talk about how I got the mayor indicted?” she joked in between songs.
Carpenter was referencing Adams’ indictment, which somehow got tied to the scandal surrounding her “Feather” music video. ICYMI, parts of the video were filmed in Brooklyn’s Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church. After it was released, the church’s pastor Rev. Msgr. Jamie Gigantiello got fired for giving Carpenter the go-ahead.
According to the New York Post, this controversy led to a federal investigation surrounding Gigantiello’s connection to Frank Carone, Adams’ former chief of staff, who stepped down in 2022 after facing scrutiny.
Giving A Shady Saturday Night Live shoutout
In May, Carpenter was a musical guest on SNL, and she took the opportunity to be petty. During her performance of “Feather,” she switched up the lyrics. The original song goes, “I got you blocked, excited to never talk / I, I'm so sorry for your loss.”
But Carpenter’s SNL version of the song is a little shadier. She replaced “I’m so sorry for your loss” with “I’m on SNL, and you’re not.” One fan responded to the change, “oh sabrina carpenter ate her haters up.”
