Olivia Rodrigo sparks controversy over a gesture in the middle of a concert: did she style her hair with her armpit sweat?

Music

Olivia Rodrigo found herself at the center of an unexpected controversy after a video recorded during one of her concerts began circulating widely on social media. In the footage, the singer appearsto be putting her hands under her arms and, seconds later, running them through her hair.

In the images that began circulating on social media, Rodrigo appears bringing one of her hands toward her armpit area and, shortly afterward, running it through her hair. The movement was enough for numerous users to interpret that the singer had used her own sweat to fix her hair.

Olivia Rodrigo's gesture that divided social media

The incident occurred during a Rodrigo concert at Washington D.C.'s Capital One Arena, while she was performing “Serena Joy”. The sequence was later shared on X with a comment that ended up fueling the controversy even more: “I had never seen someone use their armpit sweat to style their hair.”

The scene quickly turned into a viral moment. The unusual sequence generated all kinds of comments among users, especially because of how quickly Rodrigo went from touching her armpit to fixing her hair.

The reactions were immediate. Some followers described the scene as “disgusting,” “unsanitary” and even questioned why the artist would have made such a gesture in front of thousands of people. Others, however, considered the controversy exaggerated and argued that the video does not allow one to know exactly what she was doing.

So far, Olivia Rodrigo has not explained what really happened. The video clearly shows the movement of her hands, but it does not confirm that she used sweat to fix her hair, so much of the controversy stems from users' interpretation.

• Olivia Rodrigo