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Susan Sarandon has found herself back in the limelight, and it’s all thanks to Sabrina Carpenter.
The Academy Award-winning actress made an unexpected appearance during Carpenter’s Coachella headlining performance on Friday. This comes after Sarandon claimed she faced blacklisting in Hollywood due to her pro-Palestine stance.
At 26, Carpenter was making her grand debut as a headliner, turning the stage into her own whimsical “Sabrinawood,” a nod to the iconic Hollywood sign. She delivered energetic performances of hits like “Espresso” and “Please, Please, Please.”
However, it was Sarandon’s surprise cameo that truly captivated the audience. She portrayed an older version of Carpenter in a theatrical segment that took everyone by surprise halfway through the show.
At 79, the “Thelma & Louise” icon appeared in an almost seven-minute interlude, styled as a nostalgic drive-in movie scene. Behind the wheel of a classic car, Sarandon donned a stylish white ensemble and blonde hair, mirroring Carpenter’s look.
She was joined by Carpenter’s former “Girl Meets World” co-star Corey Fogelmanis, who played a weary waiter trying to clock out.
In the segment, Sarandon’s “older Sabrina” reflected on her younger years and how she’s remembered, describing how her niece looks up old photos and videos of her but struggles to connect them to the person she knows.
“Aunt Sabrina is happy, but she doesn’t smile,” Sarandon’s “older Sabrina” says.
The cameo comes after Sarandon opened up about feeling pushed out of Hollywood following backlash over comments she made at a pro-Palestine rally in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terror attack on Israel.
At the event in Union Square in NYC on Nov. 17, 2023, she said Jewish Americans were “getting a taste of how it feels to be Muslim in America,” remarks she later apologized for, calling them a “terrible mistake.”
Sarandon was also spotted at an anti-Israel protest at Columbia University in April 2024, wearing a leather coat jacket decked out with an image of Bart Simpson on its red leather sleeve.
In a November 2024 interview with The Times of London, Sarandon said she was dropped by her agency and lost projects, adding she felt she had been made “an example of what not to do” in the industry.
Her Coachella appearance marked a rare high-profile moment amid that fallout — and it wasn’t the only celebrity cameo packed into Carpenter’s ambitious set.
Will Ferrell popped up as an electrician dragging a power cable across the stage, while Samuel L. Jackson lent his voice to a reworked moment during “Juno,” booming: “Hello, Coachella … I am here to take you motherf—ers on this journey to relaxation.”
The show also opened with a cinematic black-and-white intro featuring Sam Elliott as a cryptic cop warning Carpenter not to head to California.
“You know it’s not right out there. It’s wrong,” he says in the clip.
Still, one 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 yodel,” she said, scanning the audience before asking, “Is that what you’re doing?”
When the fan confirmed it, Carpenter responded candidly: “I don’t like it.”
The concertgoer tried to explain it was “part of their culture,” prompting Carpenter to reply, “That’s your culture, yodeling?”
“Is this Burning Man?” the singer quipped. “What’s going on? This is weird,” she added, before quickly moving on and continuing the show.