After spending the past few months touring with Taylor Swift, pop star Sabrina Carpenter believes she has another, even more iconic fan among her following: Jesus Christ.
Carpenter recently found herself embroiled in a strange tussle with the Diocese of Brooklyn after she filmed her music video for “Feather” inside the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in New York. In the video, the 24-year-old dances around the church’s altar and pews while surrounded by colorful coffins and dressed in a tiny black tulle dress and veil.
Following the video’s Oct. 31 release, the church claimed it had to re-bless the establishment because it was so “appalled” at the clip. A few days later, the church’s pastor was stripped of his administrative duties for letting the video be filmed there.
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Speaking to Variety in an interview published Wednesday, Carpenter had a perfectly cheeky response to the whole debacle.
“We got approval in advance,” she said about the shoot, adding, “and Jesus was a carpenter.”
(She’s not wrong; the gospels describe Jesus as a “carpenter”—albeit, the occupation, not the name for Sabrina Carpenter fans—in two different passages.)
Meanwhile, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn has not been so amused by the drama. In a statement to the Catholic News Agency after the video’s release, the diocese said: “The parish did not follow diocesan policy regarding the filming on Church property, which includes a review of the scenes and script.”
The diocese added that a bishop celebrated a Mass of Reparation at the church that “restored the sanctity” of the establishment and “repaired the harm” it claimed was done.
