Sabrina Carpenter got a little extra spicy on Saturday Night Live this week, dropping the F-bomb twice during her second song.
Viewers watching the show’s live broadcast on the East Coast Saturday night heard Carpenter sing the words “he sure fucked up” as she performed “Nobody’s Son.” Though the words appear in the album version of the song, artists usually swap in a different word for television performances. In this case, the show’s closed captions suggest the plan had been for her to sing the word “effed.” (Indeed, we hear she censored herself at dress rehearsal.)
Though SNL has aired live coast-to-coast for the better part of the last decade at 11:30 p.m. ET and 8:30 p.m. PT, it airs on a slight delay on the West Coast specifically for situations like this. So while East Coast viewers (and those watching on Peacock) heard the curse, it was censored on the West Coast and in versions of the song that were later posted online.
Here's the clip: pic.twitter.com/7FpdJqqWaN
— LateNighter (@latenightercom) October 19, 2025
Saturday Night Live‘s East Coast broadcast falls under the FCC’s “safe harbor” hours (after 10:00 p.m.), where indecent but not obscene material is allowed.
As longtime viewers of SNL know, this was far from the first time an F-bomb has slipped through on the show—from Paul Shaffer in 1980 to Charles Rocket in 1981 to Jenny Slate in 2009, Samuel L Jackson in 2012, and Kristen Stewart in 2017.
It was also not the first time Carpenter has let an F-bomb slip on live television in recent memory. Accepting the Best Album Award at the MTV VMAs last month, she didn’t mince words as she referenced criticism of her new album.
“This world, as we all know, can be so full of criticism and discrimination and negativity,” she said. “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.”
(suggestion: this Biblical verse: “Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.” – Ephesians 4:29, New Living Translation version)