Japanese-British singer Rina Sawayama has pointed out cultural insensitivities she noticed during Sabrina Carpenter’s recent Saturday Night Live performance.
Carpenter appeared on the latest episode of NBC’s long-running sketch series as both the evening’s host and musical guest.
During the episode, the 26-year-old “Espresso” singer performed two songs, “Manchild” and “Nobody’s Son,” from her latest album, Man’s Best Friend. For the latter, she and her backup dancers were dressed in karate gis, while two dancers could be seen behind her wearing sneakers as they sparred and danced on mats.
“Big love to Sabrina,” Sawayama, 35, wrote Sunday on her Instagram Story above a clip of the “Please Please Please” hitmaker’s performance.
“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 implored, noting that “shoes on tatami is jail.”
In Japanese culture, it’s considered disrespectful to wear outdoor shoes or even indoor slippers on tatami mats, which is likely why the sneakered dancers upset Sawayama.
The Independent has contacted SNL and Carpenter’s representative for comment.
Sawayama, who was born in Japan before emigrating to London with her parents at just five years old, is known for calling out fellow celebrities for cultural insensitivities. In 2023, she made headlines for appearing to slam The 1975 frontman Matty Healy during her Glastonbury set over his controversial past remarks.
“Tonight, this goes out to a white man that watches Ghetto Gaggers, and mocks Asian people on a podcast,” she told the crowd, referring to comments he made on an earlier podcast episode of the Adam Friedland Show. “He also owns my masters... I’ve had enough.”
Meanwhile, Carpenter also turned heads with her uncensored rendition of “Nobody’s Son” during SNL.
The former Disney star sang the lyrics “he sure f***ed me up” not once, but twice during the live broadcast. The expletive was silenced when the show later aired on the West Coast, and when it was uploaded to the show’s YouTube channel.
The Grammy-winning singer faced mixed reactions from East Coast viewers for her bold lyrical choice.
“The first one, I was like, ‘Did I just hear what I think I did? Surely not.’ Then the second one, I was like Oh! I mean, it is past 1 AM ET, but still, you don’t expect that on #SNL,” one fan wrote on X, while a second simply wrote: “Oops potty mouth.”
Another was so outraged that they threatened to take action against SNL. “What are you doing about this? I am going to make an official complaint to the FCC unless you issue an apology by Tuesday 5pm EST,” they wrote.
Carpenter chose not to address the outrage in a Monday Instagram post, writing: “SNL double duty was the least I’ve slept in my life and the best reason to ever not sleep ... thank you Lorne, the amazing cast, crew, and writers for taking me in with open arms.”
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