People Are Calling Out Toxic Men, After Sabrina Carpenter's Viral "Manchild" Lyrics Received Backlash

Sabrina Carpenter replied to an X user who seemed to criticize the lyrics of her 2025 song “Manchild” from her seventh album, Man’s Best Friend. Person with curly hair in a stylish polka-dot dress with ruffled off-shoulder and a flower detail, standing against a textured backdrop

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It all started after Sabrina performed the hit single at Lollapalooza Argentina on March 15. When a video of the Grammy-winner’s call-and-response with the audience went viral, it appeared that many people (presumably men) were upset. Person smiling on a red carpet with embellished dress, touching face with both hands, backdrop featuring geometric patterns and CBS logo

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For context, the lyrics include “Baby, what do you call it? / Stupid / Or is it / Slow? / Maybe it’s / Useless? / But there’s a cuter word for it / I know” before she sings the chorus describing a “manchild.” A performer on stage sings energetically; text highlights words like "stupid," "slow," and "useless." To give you an idea of the backlash, one person said in a X post with 12,000 likes, “so what were saying is 100k men can get together and call women useless and no one will be upset right?” Tweet expressing criticism about 100k men gathering to call women useless, questioning the lack of backlash

“If the men running all of her sound equipment, lights, and microphone just turned it off, we could end this whole charade,” another person wrote in an X post with almost 30,000 likes. Tweet by Rachel Wilson suggesting turning off sound equipment at a concert. Retweeted post shows Sabrina Carpenter performing at Lollapalooza And this person pointed out in a post with over 11,000 likes that it’s hilarious Sabrina sang these lyrics “on a stage built by men.” A tweet from @MeowMixMRE: "While standing on a stage built by men is hilarious ?" with engagement icons below One particular X post in response to the viral video gained a lot of traction, so much so that even Sabrina herself responded, sending the online debate over the lyrics into the stratosphere. Person in stylish, white, 60s-inspired outfit with hat and boots, seated with a dove onstage

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In a post with over 38,000 likes, an X user wrote, “women are always like ‘men are useless’ but sabrina carpenter is like 4 foot 11, she cant even climb into a mid size SUV without help.” A tweet mocking a statement about men with an image below, showing Sabrina Carpenter performing on stage

The next day, Sabrina responded, “yes i can ?” and it went mega viral with over 24 million views and 890,000 likes as of March 19. Sabrina Carpenter responds "yes I can?" to a tweet mocking her height-related SUV challenge @SabrinaAnnLynn / Via x.comThe discourse around the lyrics referring to a very specific type of man as “stupid” or “useless” was already popping off. Still, after Sabrina’s clapback, thousands of people couldn’t resist calling out the misogyny and negative reaction to Sabrina’s lyrics. Here’s what they’re saying:”the hate she gets is insane. like every rapper in the industry has always **** shamed women and no one ever batted an eye, but god forbid a woman sings about men being useless and suddenly y’all are mad,” one person wrote. Twitter post expressing frustration over criticism of female artists versus male rappers. Includes a post about Sabrina Carpenter at Lollapalooza

“Men are so dramatic about being called useless when women are repeatedly referred to as ‘*******’ and ‘hoes’ in songs and say nothing,” someone else wrote. Social media post discussing the double standards in language regarding men and women, highlighting a comment by Sabrina Carpenter at Lollapalooza “men are so ******* weird,” one person wrote. Tweet by @lilcitveniceb, replying to two users, stating: "men are so ******* weird." @SabrinaAnnLynn / Via x.com

Another person said, “men wanna be needed bad.” GIF of a person moving their head while lying down with a tweet about tall SUVs and dependency dynamics in relationships @SabrinaAnnLynn / Via x.com“Why does a woman existing confidently trigger this much resentment?” another person wrote. Tweet from @HerWay: "Why does a woman existing confidently trigger this much resentment?" 7.9K likes, 524 replies, March 17, 2026 @SabrinaAnnLynn / Via x.com“These recent years some men really developed a victim mentality it’s pathetic,” someone else wrote. Tweet by Sébastien Santin criticizing some men's victim mentality as pathetic @SabrinaAnnLynn / Via x.com

Fortunately, #NotAllMen were in their feelings about Sabrina’s playful lyrics. One person wrote, “I will never be offended by anything Sabrina Carpenter does because I am not the kind of man these songs are about.” Tweet by @RaineyOvalle reacting to Sabrina Carpenter's Lollapalooza performance, mentioning songs calling men "useless." Viral tweet with many likes

Someone else echoed, “Song is literally called ‘Manchild.’ She makes it pretty clear the type of men she is singing about. It’s not called ‘All Men’ lol. So yeah, to your point, it should only bother you if you yourself are a manchild.” Reply about the song "Manchild," explaining it targets a specific type of man, not all men, and suggesting it only bothers those fitting the description The viral X conversation even found its way into the corners of Reddit, where others made hilarious, valid points about accusing Sabrina of not being able to get into an SUV because of her height. Person in an elegant outfit applauds among a standing crowd at a formal event