Sabrina Carpenter faces backlash as creative team urged to 'do research' over SNL performance
Sabrina Carpenter did double duty on Saturday Night Live on October 18, where she was host and the musical guest. One of her performances brought up criticism for her creative team
Sabrina Carpenter's creative team was called out following one of her performances on Saturday Night Live.
The 26-year-old pop star was both the host and the musical guest on the NBC sketch comedy show on Saturday, October 18. Sabrina performed twice during the show and it was her second performance that involved a martial arts set-up that brought up conversations around proper research when referring to another culture.
Sabrina was singing Nobody's Son from her latest album Man's Best Friend as she was dressed up in a bedazzled Gi (without pants) and obi. In the performance, which involved a tatami mat, Sabrina had back-up dancers who were doing martial-art moves on a tatami mat with shoes on. Japanese-British singer Rina Sawayama, 35, made note of that faux-pax on her Instagram Stories on Sunday, October 19.
The John Wick: Chapter 4 actress wrote on her Instagram Stories, with a repost of Sabrina's SNL performance in the background, "Big love to Sabrina [red heart emoji] 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."
"Shoes on tatami is jail [crying emoji]," Rina added.
Tatami mats have a longstanding history within Japanese culture and tradition as a specific floor material. According to Kohaku, the origins of tatami can be traced back to the Jomon and Yayoi periods (14,000 BCE–300 CE). At the time, it was made with natural resources such as rice straws. The word, tatami, first appeared in the Japan's oldest book, the Kojiki (712 CE) during the Nara period.
Tatami were first utilized by the nobles and was often put on the wooden floor as seating or bedding. Then in the Kamakura and Muromachi periods, the tatami expanded to not only the aristocracy but introduced as a style to cover entire floors with instead of a portable seat, marking it as essential room design.
Tatami are constructed in three parts: a base (doko), a cover (omote), and a border (heri). It is commonly made today with Igusa rush grass and rice straw, per Japan Objects. Tatami mats are still used today as a traditional flooring option in bedrooms, tearooms and also in fitness and martial arts spaces. It is customary in Japanese culture when stepping on a tatami mat that a person takes off their shoes.
Rina's remark comes as that same performance surprised viewers with the lack of censorship when it came to the f-word. The Nonsense singer had sang the lyric, "He sure f---ed me up," twice.