Madonna Jabs at Sabrina Carpenter's Team During VMA Acceptance Speech
Carpenter defends her staff after the veteran artist criticizes response times during their shared win for Best Collaboration.
Madonna took a pointed jab at Sabrina Carpenter's team during their joint acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday, leading to a flustered defense from the younger artist.
The two performers, who won Best Collaboration for their duet "Bring Your Love," took the stage together at the Peacock Theater. Madonna, 68, recounted her initial outreach to Carpenter, 27, stating, "Everybody who knows me knows how impatient I am, and when five days passed and I still didn't get connected with Sabrina and didn't hear back from her about whether she wanted to do a song with me - five days! - I DM'ed her."
The comment drew a reaction from the live audience, and Carpenter appeared nervous before jumping to her staff's defense. "My team replies! Just so everybody knows, they do respond to people!" she exclaimed.
Carpenter then acknowledged, to applause, that "I respond faster, so direct line to me is always the best way to get in contact." Madonna responded with an anxious giggle from Carpenter and a suggestion to "go back there and have a drink or something."
Following the remarks about Carpenter's entourage, Madonna shifted to a more complimentary tone, praising her collaborator. "I love working with you because you are so professional, and in this day and age it's really hard to find professional people to work with," Madonna said. "When I show up late, she shows up early, so it works out. And she has OCD and so do I," the "Material Girl" hitmaker added, noting their shared trait of writing lyrics on paper. She concluded by expressing her love for Carpenter and the song, clarifying its meaning as being about "people who think they know you better than you know yourself."
The artists had also appeared together earlier in the ceremony for Madonna's opening performance, where Carpenter and Charli XCX joined her onstage. This marked Madonna's first VMA performance since 2003.
Madonna was the most nominated artist at this year's VMAs with 11 nominations, ultimately winning seven awards. Carpenter's "House Tour" video won the award for Best Editing. Taylor Swift secured the Video of the Year award, bringing her total VMA wins to 33, making her the artist with the most VMA wins in history.
