Sabrina Carpenter delivered an NSFW performance on the Oct. 18 episode of “Saturday Night Live,” when she sang her “Man’s Best Friend” track “Nobody’s Song” and didn’t self-censor the lyrics “He sure fucked me up” on two occasions.
There was likely some miscommunication with NBC censors, as the profanity wasn’t muted or bleeped either time, causing it to go live uncensored on both the East Coast network broadcast and the Peacock simulcast. Some viewers on the West Coast noted that the broadcast seemed to be on a slight delay and had the audio go silent in their feed during the two F-words.
Carpenter served as both the host and musical guest of the show, and the “Nobody’s Song” performance, with a martial arts stage setup, happened near the end of the show. Earlier in the evening, she sang “Manchild” as her first musical number.
Carpenter recently used some surprise profanity on television during the 2025 VMAs while accepting the Best Album Award, where she said, “This world, as we all know, can be so full of criticism and discrimination and negativity. So to get to be a part of something so often, more than not, that is something that can bring you light, make you smile, make you dance and make you feel like the world is your fucking oyster, I am so grateful, so grateful to do that.”
Off-the-cuff profanity has been much-discussed during “Saturday Night Live” history, with it being an open secret that NBC and creator Lorne Michaels don’t appreciate the show being opened up to potential FCC fines. Hosts like Kristen Stewart, Sam Rockwell and Ariana Grande have all dropped uncensored profanity during their monologues or sketches. Cast members such as Norm Macdonald and Jenny Slate have as well. The rock band the Replacements also dropped an F-bomb while performing in 1986.
Meanwhile, the show has hosted plenty of controversial musical performances, such as NBC removing upside-down American flags from Rage Against the Machine’s amps in 1996 to Ashlee Simpson’s botched vocal performance in 2004.
Carpenter was not the only one to stir controversy by dropping the F-word in a high-profile setting in the last week. President Donald J. Trump used the word on Friday during a live news conference, saying that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro “doesn’t want to fuck around with the United States.” Rather than shrink back from the rough language, the official White House X account and the administration’s rapid response team account both posted video of the president’s tough talk.
