BBC edits Sabrina Carpenter’s Live Lounge video to remove ‘porn reference’

BBC said the unedited version was ‘posted in error’

(BBC)

The BBC has edited a Live Lounge performance from Sabrina Carpenter after the singer made what appeared to be a reference to a porn trope.

Carpenter appeared on BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge last week. The former Disney Channel star sang her hit song “Nonsense”.

A recording of the performance was uploaded to the broadcaster’s YouTube channel, including Carpenter’s original riff at the end of the track.

“How quickly can you take your clothes off, pop quiz. I’m American, I am not British so BBC, it stands for something different,” she sings. “This live lounge is so lit because I’m in it, innit.”

As noticed by Deadline, the BBC has since removed this version of the video and replaced it with another clip, in which the outro has been cut out.

While the acronym BBC in the UK is commonly associated with the British Broadcasting Corporation, it is also a slang reference with racial connotations in pornography.

The BBC said that the unedited version of the clip was “posted in error”.

“An unedited version of the video was briefly posted in error, and the correct version is now available for viewers to enjoy,” the broadcaster wrote.

Fellow musician Charli XCX was among those to comment on the moment. The “Crash” singer wrote on Twitter: “Sabrina Carpenter explaining BBC on the BBC is so funny, I can’t.”

Carpenter, 23, starred in the Disney Channel’s series Girl Meets World between 2014 and 2017.

She has since released five studio albums. Most recently, she released Emails I Can’t Send in 2022, which featured “Nonsense” on its track list.

The track debuted at number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent a total of five weeks on the chart.