Music stars Madonna and Elton John bury hatchet after decades-long public feud

Two music legends have reconciled after a long-running feud.

On April 8, American pop diva Madonna, 66, posted a picture of her with British singer-songwriter Elton John, 78, and said they have “finally buried the hatchet”. The pair made up when she went to see him perform at sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL) on April 5.

They have been feuding since 2002, when he called her 2002 song Die Another Day, the title track of the James Bond espionage movie of the same name that year, the “worst Bond tune ever”.

He also made several jabs at Madonna over the years and accused her of lip-syncing during performances, prompting her team to respond in 2004 that she does not lip-sync, nor does she “spend her time trashing other artistes”.

In 2012, John – after losing Best Original Song at the Golden Globes to Madonna – called her a “nightmare” and declared that her career was over. He was nominated for Hello Hello from the animated movie Gnomeo & Juliet (2011), but it was Madonna who won for Masterpiece, from the historical romance W.E. (2011).

But all was forgiven, Madonna said, when she met John backstage at SNL over the weekend.

She credited him as an artiste who helped her to understand the power of music as a teenager, but admitted she was hurt by comments he had made about her.

She wrote: “Over the decades, it hurt me to know that someone I admired so much shared his dislike of me publicly as an artiste. 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 he had written a song for me and he wanted to collaborate. It was like everything came full circle.”

In the comments section of the post, John thanked Madonna for forgiving him and his “big mouth”.

He wrote: “I’m not proud of what I said. Particularly when I think about all the ground-breaking work you have done as an artiste – paving the way for an entire generation of female artistes to succeed and be true to themselves.”

He also thanked Madonna for being one of the earliest mainstream pop stars to speak out and advocate for HIV/Aids patients.

He added: “I’m grateful we can move forward... 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.”