Madonna has confirmed that she has ‘finally buried the hatchet’ with Sir Elton John, bringing their explosive feud to an end.
Things have been frosty between the Like A Virgin singer, 66, and Your Song star, 78, for more than two decades – and they have been trading barbs publicly ever since.
However, the Queen of Pop revealed that things have officially been smoothed over with her fellow music legend, after she dropped in to ‘confront him’ backstage at SNL over the weekend.
Taking to Instagram, she shared a photo of them both embracing for the camera, sharing that he had asked for ‘forgiveness’.
‘We Finally Buried the Hatchet!!! I went to see @eltonjohn perform on SNL this weekend!! WOW,’ she began a lengthy caption.
‘I remembered when I was in high school – I snuck out of the house one night to see Elton perform live in Detroit!
‘It was an unforgettable performance that helped me understand the transformative power of music.
‘Seeing him perform when I was in high school changed the course of my life. I had always felt like an outsider growing up and watching him on stage helped me to understand that it was OK to be different – to stand out – to take the road, less traveled by. In fact, it was essential.
‘Over the decades it hurt me to know that someone I admired so much shared his dislike of me publicly as an artist. I didn’t understand it.’
Taking matters into her own hands, in the most Madonna way possible, she continued: ‘I was told Elton John was the musical guest on SNL and I decided to go. I needed to go backstage and confront him.
‘When I met him, the first thing out of his mouth was, “Forgive Me” and the wall between us fell down. Forgiveness is a powerful tool. Within minutes. We were hugging.
‘Then he told me had written a song for me and he wanted to collaborate. It was like everything came full circle!!
‘And you can tell everybody , This is Your Song……….’
Sliding into the comments below, Sir Elton offered a heartfelt response: ‘@madonna Thank you for coming to see me at SNL. And thank you for forgiving me and my big mouth. I’m not proud of what I said.
‘Particularly when I think about all the groundbreaking work you have done as an artist – paving the way for an entire generation of female artists to succeed and be true to themselves.
‘You were also one of the very first people to rise up against HIV/AIDS in the 80’s, bringing love and compassion to so many who desperately needed it.
‘I’m grateful we can move forward. I’m increasingly distressed by all the divisiveness in our world at the moment.
‘Both you and I have wholeheartedly been accepted and embraced by communities who are under threat around the world,’ he concluded. ‘By pulling together, I’m hopeful that we can make great things happen for those who really need support. And have a lot of fun doing it!!’
Sharing the image on his own Instagram story, Sir Elton – who recently released his new album, Who Believes In Angels – added: ‘A healing moment, @madonna.’
Unsurprisingly, fans went wild for the twist, and flocked to the comments to share their surprise over the end of one of Hollywood’s most vicious battles.
Abdaddy commented: ‘Like a Peace Treaty.’
Daniellamarcolini agreed: ‘Forgiveness can save the world, Queen! What a beautiful story!’
‘No but really, why is this making me emotional???,’ Anastaza replied.
Fustergab was all of us, simply begging: ‘Omg drop the collab!!!!’
As Madge and Sir Elton put an end to one of the biggest disputes in pop, we took a look back to how things all kicked off and got so messy…
Sir Elton shades Madonna in 2004
Sir Elton instigated their war of words while on stage at the Q Awards in 2004, leaving the audience – as well as the rest of us – totally in shock.
Accepting the trophy for the classic songwriter trophy, he declared: ‘Madonna, best f**king live act? F**k off. Since when has lip-syncing been live?
‘Sorry about that but I think everyone who lip-syncs in public on stage when you pay £75 to see them should be shot. Thank you very much.
‘That’s me off her f**king Christmas card list, but do I give a toss? No.’
Madonna wins a Golden Globe – 2012
In 2012, they went head-to-head at the Golden Globes when they were both named in the category for best original song – and the Rocketman superstar didn’t mince his words when he touched on his rival’s chances at taking home the trophy.
He told NBC that she ‘didn’t stand a f**king chance’ at winning, which was made even more awkward when she was victorious on the night.
‘I hope he speaks to me for the next couple of years,’ she said backstage, via the Hollywood Reporter.
‘He’s known to get mad at me… He’ll win another award. I don’t feel bad.’
Sir Elton’s husband, David Furnish, waded into their drama shortly after Madge’s win, reportedly posting: ‘Madonna winning Best Original Song truly shows how these awards have nothing to do with merit.
‘Her acceptance speech was embarrassing in its narcissism.’
Sir Elton gets savage in an interview – 2012
Sir Elton then had jaws dropping around the world when he made his feelings clear on Madonna while filming an interview with Australia’s Channel 7 in 2012.
During the chat, he took aim at her remarks about Lady Gaga, after she branded the latter’s hit Born This Way ‘reductive’, and compared it to her own song, Express Yourself.
In the break of the interview, which was broadcast without his consent, he fumed: ‘Why is she such a nightmare? Sorry, her career is over. Her tour has been a disaster and it couldn’t happen to a bigger c***.
‘She’s been so horrible to Gaga. If Madonna had any common sense she’d have made a record like Ray Of Light, stayed away from the dance stuff and just been a great pop singer, and make great pop records which she does brilliantly.
‘But no, she had to prove that she was, like… and she looks like a f**king fairground stripper.’
Madonna took the comments in her stride and later dedicated a song to her former friend on stage while on tour, telling the crowd: ‘I know he’s a big fan of it. And I know he’s a big fan of mine. And you know? I forgive him. Got to start somewhere.’
Sir Elton shares apologizes – 2019
The Oscar-winner later shared his regret over the scathing interview in his 2019 memoir, Me, but expressed that the Vogue singer shouldn’t have been so ‘ungracious and nasty’ about Gaga’s work.
‘I used to make fun of [Madonna] for lip-syncing on stage, but the problem really started when she ran Gaga down on an American chat show,’ he wrote.
‘I got that Gaga’s single Born This Way definitely sounded similar to Express Yourself, but I couldn’t see why she was so ungracious and nasty about it, rather than taking it as a compliment… particularly when she claims to be a champion for women.
‘I think it’s just wrong — an established artist shouldn’t kick down a younger artist right at the start of their career.’
‘I was furious and I said some pretty horrible things about her to a TV interviewer in Australia,’ he added of the infamous footage.
‘You can tell from the footage that it wasn’t part of the interview, that I was just sounding off to an old friend between takes…
‘They broadcast it anyway, which brought that particular old friendship to a very swift conclusion. Still, I shouldn’t have said it. I apologized.’
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