Sabrina Carpenter gave a NSFW performance on October 18th’s Saturday Night Live, singing her song “Nobody’s Song” from “Man’s Best Friend,” and twice self-censoring the lyrics, “He messed me up.”
In both cases, the profanity was not muted and the Peacock simulcast was not broadcast, and there may have been some misunderstanding with NBC censors, resulting in it being broadcast live, uncensored, on both the East Coast Network broadcast and the Peacock simulcast. Some viewers on the West Coast noted that the broadcast appeared to be slightly delayed and that the audio in the feed went silent between the two F-words.
Carpenter served as both host and musical guest on the show, which featured a performance of “Nobody’s Song” near the end of the show, complete with martial arts stage equipment. Earlier in the evening, she sang “Manchild” as her first musical number.
“As we all know, this world is full of criticism and discrimination and negativity, so to be able to be a part of something so often that brings light to me, that makes me smile, that makes me dance, that makes me feel like the world is my oyster, I’m so grateful and so grateful,” Carpenter recently said on TV when he accepted the Best Album award at the 2025 VMAs, using a surprise profanity line.
Instant profanity has been frequently discussed in the history of “Saturday Night Live,” and it’s no secret that NBC and creator Lorne Michaels don’t appreciate the show’s potential for FCC fines. Hosts like Kristen Stewart, Sam Rockwell, and Ariana Grande have all dropped uncensored profanity during their monologues and sketches. So are cast members like Norm MacDonald and Jenny Slate.
Meanwhile, the show has hosted a number of controversial musical performances, including NBC’s removal of the upside-down American flag from Rage Against the Machine’s amplifiers in 1996 and Ashlee Simpson’s botched vocal performance in 2004.
