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This article is part of\u00a0Upstream,<\/a>\u00a0The Daily Wire\u2019s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories \u2014 from our featured writers to you.<\/em><\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Sabrina Carpenter is canceled<\/a>. It\u2019s surprising it took so long. The pop star famous for her bubbly, retro sounds is no stranger to controversy. She\u2019s come under fire in the past for her performances simulating sex acts on stage, and her music videos routinely feature male murder fantasies. But now, Carpenter<\/a> has finally stepped on a progressive cultural land mine. During her headline Coachella performance, the singer committed a grave act of \u201cxenophobia\u201d when responding to a disruptive fan, and her carnivorous fan base has finally found an excuse to take out its queen bee.<\/p>\n Coachella 2026 was poised to be the highlight of Sabrina Carpenter\u2019s meteoric rise to pop stardom. Her headline show, dubbed by fans \u201cSabrinawood\u201d for its nods to Old Hollywood, was a star-studded affair with over-the-top stage production and cameos from iconic actors such as Sam Elliott. As initial videos of the performance trickled onto social media, the internet crowned her the reigning princess of Coachella.<\/p>\n Then the unthinkable happened. An interaction with a loud fan summoned the internet\u2019s cancel culture vultures with accusations of racism and xenophobia.<\/p>\n X user\u00a0Poppy<\/a> posted a clip of the incident, which has now been removed, showing a performance interrupted by what Sabrina Carpenter called a \u201cyodel.\u201d After being informed by the audience member that it was a cultural custom, Sabrina grimaced and responded, \u201cThat\u2019s your culture?\u201d Poppy\u2019s caption expressed disappointment: \u201csabrina saying that she doesn\u2019t like a cultural arabic cheer\u2026 this is so insensitive and islamophobic.\u201d<\/p>\n The post garnered 30.9 million views and a response from Carpenter, who quickly\u00a0apologized<\/a> after being informed of the disruptor\u2019s cultural background, \u201cmy apologies I didn\u2019t see this person with my eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n The fan was not from Appalachia or the Swiss Alps, as Sabrina likely assumed, and the noise was not a yodel, but a zaghrouta, a celebratory ululation used throughout North Africa and the Middle East. In the eyes of Sabrina Carpenter\u2019s progressive fanbase, the offender was not a safe person to criticize.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m in a complete shock,\u201d one of the viral posts\u00a0said<\/a>, \u201cI used to be a huge sabrina carpenter fan and now she\u2019s mocking my culture and calling me \u2018weird\u2019, this is so racist and inappropriate and it made me feel uncomfortable. this white blonde racist woman should be cancelled.\u201d<\/p>\n The speed with which Sabrina Carpenter\u2019s fans were willing to condemn her is revelatory of the inner workings of \u201cstan\u201d culture, a pop-star-obsessed internet subculture. The name originates from Eminem\u2019s 2000 song \u201cStan<\/a>,\u201d which chronicles a fan\u2019s obsession that devolves from sending letters into a murder-suicide. For \u201cstans\u201d to adopt this identity as their own, even if done ironically, indicates a destructive underbelly.<\/p>\n As I pointed out in\u00a0this<\/a> post, the quick switch-up from fan to hater is often rooted in progressive politics. Over a decade ago, a Tumblr account<\/a> called Your Fave is Problematic became famous for its lists<\/a>\u00a0of celebrity transgressions. Even Katy Perry, the current girlfriend of former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, was\u00a0\u201ccalled out\u201d<\/a>\u00a0for transgressions such as \u201c[demonstrating] unsafe binding techniques,\u201d cultural appropriation, and \u201ctrivializing bisexuality\u201d with her hit song\u00a0\u201cI Kissed a Girl.\u201d<\/a> As a pop culture-obsessed tween, I was introduced to progressive puritanism by blogs such as these.<\/p>\n Stan culture is inextricably linked with progressive politics. Once a star has misbehaved, the incident serves as cover for a variety of heinous comments and obsessive cyberbullying of both the star and her fans. Sabrina Carpenter will undoubtedly encounter this fate. Her fans now have a decision to make that feels consequential: call her out and distance yourself, or become problematic too.<\/p>\n This is an under-recognized entry point of the progressive radicalization pipeline: online stan culture. The participants are young and want to fit in, and participating in the cancelation mob is a moral duty in this environment.<\/p>\n While many have correctly pointed out that Sabrina Carpenter has cultivated this type of fanbase, it is nearly impossible to ascend to her level of stardom without engaging in progressive politicking. The danger is that progressives are more puritan than puritans themselves and offer no path to redemption. The stakes of offending them, which is laughably easy to do, are incredibly high.<\/p>\n For radical progressive pop fans, God is replaced by the pop star. In this role, it isn\u2019t enough for Sabrina Carpenter to be exceptional; she must be perfect. If she is human, like the rest of us, then she doesn\u2019t deserve the lights, the stage, the celebrity cameos, and most importantly, the money that comes with being at the top. In this light, Carpenter\u2019s cancellation is completely predictable.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n