A long-running feud between musicians Elton John and Madonna has been ended after the pair decided to “bury the hatchet”.
Madonna confirmed the pair had made up during a chance encounter on Saturday Night Live last weekend, the long-running American comedy show.
John, who had been performing songs from his recently released album, the Brandi Carlile-featuring ‘Who Believes in Angels?’, bumped into Madonna at the show, where the two apparently hugged it out.
A photograph of the pair was uploaded to social media, with Madonna captioning the image: “We finally buried the hatchet!”. Fans were delighted to hear the pair had made up, but others were left wondering what had first sparked the feud.
Following an awards win for Rocket Man songwriter Elton John, the legendary musician, 78, took a pop at Madonna for allegedly lip-syncing her performances.
Elvis Costello introduced Sir Elton John to the stage, who picked up a Classic Songwriter award win at the 2004 Q Awards. He said: “Madonna, best f**king live act, f**k off. Since when has lip-syncing been live? Sorry about that, but I think anybody who lip-syncs in public on stage when you pay, like, £75 to see them, should be shot.
“That’s me off her f**king Christmas card list, but do I give a toss? No.” His comments proved controversial at the time and Madonna has since shared how she felt about Sir Elton’s put down.
She continued on Instagram: “I went to see Elton John perform on Saturday Night Live this weekend! WOW.
“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. 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!” The proposed collaboration has not yet been confirmed by Sir Elton, but he has recently released a collaborative album with Brandi Carlile.
Elton John has since responded to Madonna’s post, commenting: “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. I’m grateful we can move forward.”
Fans were delighted the pair had buried the hatchet, with one writing: “I’m glad these two let bygones be bygones. Cheers to putting the past behind ’em!”
Another wrote: “I don’t have much empathy for rich celebrities but I gotta say… if Elton John said anything negative about me, it would absolutely be replayed over and over in my head every day and torture me. Glad they can come together finally.”
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