Sabrina Carpenter addresses album cover and public image in 'Saturday Night Live' monologue

Sabrina Carpenter addressed her public image and the controversy surrounding her Man’s Best Friend album cover during her opening monologue on Saturday Night Live on October 18 2025.

The singer, who hosted and performed as the musical guest for the episode, began her monologue by referencing the response to her latest album artwork. “Since then, my new album Man’s Best Friend came out, which I’m so excited about. But some people got a little freaked out by the cover,” she said.

“I’m not sure why. It was just this: me on all fours with an unseen figure pulling my hair. But what people don’t realise is that’s just how they cropped it. If you zoom out, it’s clearly a picture from the 50th anniversary special of Bowen helping me up by the hair… after Martin Short shoved me out of the buffet line.”

Carpenter then turned to what she called “misconceptions” about her image. “Everyone thinks of me as this horndog pop star, but there’s really so much more to me. I’m not just horny, I’m also turned on, and I’m sexually charged. And I love to read. My favourite book is the encyclopedia. It’s so big and it’s hard…” she joked.

She continued, “There is a real person underneath all the sparkles and the wigs and the corsets. Another thing you might not know about me is that I love to interact with the audience during my show.”

The “Manchild” singer later invited audience participation, jokingly “arresting” someone for being attractive before being interrupted by cast member Kenan Thompson, who teased that he was arresting her “for falsely impersonating an officer 200 times at your concerts.”

The appearance marked Carpenter’s first time hosting Saturday Night Live and her second as a musical guest.