The Diocese of Brooklyn is sprinkling holy water on the music video production for Sabrina Carpenter’s new single “Feather,” from the deluxe edition of her Emails I Can’t Send album.
The New York-based religious organization said in a statement to Catholic News Agency on Thursday that Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan is “appalled” that the pop star filmed the “provocative” music video at the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Brooklyn, adding that the “parish did not follow diocesan policy regarding the filming on church property, which includes a review of the scenes and script.”
Released just in time for Halloween, the bloody visuals from director Mia Barnes follows Carpenter feeling “lighter than a feather” after orchestrating and witnessing the death of several men who were inappropriate towards her. The video opens with an interior shot of the 19th century Catholic church and concludes with Carpenter dancing around the altar and pews in a short black tulle dress, surrounded by pastel coffins of the perished men.
Catholic News Agency reported that the parish informed the diocese that the production company “failed to accurately represent the video content,” and that Brennan “is taking this matter seriously and will be looking into it further.”
Reps for Carpenter didn’t immediately respond to EW’s request for comment, while a rep for Barnes declined to comment.
Carpenter, a Disney Channel alum who rose to greater prominence on the Boy Meets World spin-off series Girl Meets World, has called Emails I Can’t Send her first “big girl album” and a departure from her last four pop-heavy albums.
“I think a lot of my childhood was people telling me what I can and cannot say, or what they think I should be able to say, because I’m supposed to raise their children or something,” she told Variety earlier this year. “It’s so weird because I’ve grown up with a lot of fans since I was 14 or 15. So now they’re in this place where they’re either in college or graduating college. They’ve gone through some of their first heartbreak. They’ve gone through some of their scariest, most painful moments in life, or some of their happiest, most exciting victories in life. We’re in a very similar place.”
Related content: