Susan Sarandon is back in the spotlight, thanks to Sabrina Carpenter.
The Oscar winner made a surprise cameo during Carpenter’s show at Coachella on Friday after claiming she was She was blacklisted in Hollywood due to her pro-Palestine views.
Carpenter, 26, was a headliner for the first time, turning the stage into her own “Sabrinawood,” modeled after the famous Hollywood sign, as she sang through hits like “Espresso” and “Please, Please, Please.”
But it was Sarandon’s unexpected appearance — in which she played an older version of the pop star in a theatrical clip — that shocked fans halfway through.
The “Thelma & Louise” star, 79, appears in a roughly seven-minute interlude, set up like a nostalgic movie scene, sitting behind the wheel of a vintage car, wearing a smart white outfit and with blonde hair, a Carpenter-like figure.
She was joined by Corey Fogelmanis, Carpenter’s former “Girl Meets World” co-star, who played an exhausted bartender trying to get out.
In the clip, Sarandon’s “Older Sabrina” reflected on her younger years and how she remembers them, describing how her niece searches for old photos and videos of her but struggles to connect them to the person she knows.
“Aunt Sabrina is happy, but she’s not smiling,” the “older” Sabrina tells Sarandon.
The appearance comes after Sarandon spoke about feeling pushed out of Hollywood following backlash over comments she made at a pro-Palestine rally following the Hamas terror attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
At the event held in New York City’s Union Square on November 17, 2023, she said that Jewish Americans were “getting a taste of what it’s like to be a Muslim in America,” remarks she later apologized for and called a “terrible mistake.”
Sarandon was too During an anti-Israel demonstration at Columbia University In April 2024, he wears a leather jacket emblazoned with an image of Bart Simpson on its red leather sleeve.
In a November 2024 interview with Times of LondonSarandon said she was abandoned by her agency and lost her projects, adding that she felt she had become “an example of what not to do” in the industry.
Her Coachella appearance was a rare high-profile moment amid the fallout — and she wasn’t the only famous star in Carpenter’s ambitious lineup.
Will Ferrell appeared as an electrician pulling a power cable across the stage, while Samuel L. Jackson lent his voice to a recreated moment during “Juno,” where he boomed: “Hey, Coachella… I’m here to take you mamas on this journey to relaxation.”
The show also opened with a black-and-white cinematic intro featuring Sam Elliott as a mysterious cop warning Carpenter not to head to California.
“You know it’s not right there. It’s wrong,” he says in the clip.
However, an unscripted moment briefly threatened to steal attention from the star-studded spectacle.
At one point, Carpenter paused after hearing an unusual sound from the crowd.
“I think I heard someone singing,” she said, scanning the audience before asking, “Is that what you do?”
When the fan confirmed this, Carpenter bluntly responded: “I don’t like it.”
One concertgoer tried to explain that it was “part of their culture,” prompting Carpenter to respond: “That’s your culture, sing-along?”
“Is this Burning Man?” – quipped the singer. “What’s going on? This is weird,” she added, before quickly moving on and continuing with the show.