Saturday night isn’t alright for fighting. Just ask music icons Elton John and Madonna.
According to Madonna, the two singers—who have engaged in a public war of words for more than 20 years—finally “buried the hatchet” over the weekend in the backstage area of Saturday Night Live. John and Brandi Carlile were musical guests on the most recent episode of the sketch comedy to promote their album, Who Believes In Angels?
“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,” Madonna posted on Instagram. “I was told Elton John was the musical guest on SNL and I decided to go. I needed to go backstage and confront him.”
The “Like a Prayer” singer said the pair shared a cordial meeting in which John, 78, offered forgiveness for his prior slights at the pop star’s songs and live performances. Madonna, 66, even teased a possible collaboration between them.
So what changed—and why were they even sparring in the first place?
John criticized Madonna’s James Bond theme
At least earlier in their careers, there was seemingly no root cause of the singers’ rift. In fact, Madonna cites John as one of her primary music inspirations. In her account of their Saturday night meetup, the seven-time Grammy winner recalled sneaking out of her house when she was in high school to see John perform in Detroit. “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,” she wrote, adding the concert changed the course of her life.
The pair even sang a live duet together at the 1998 Rain Forest Concert at Carnegie Hall.
So, it likely caught Madonna by surprise in 2002 when John called “Die Another Day”—her theme song from the Pierce Brosnan–led James Bond movie of the same name—the “worst Bond tune ever.”
Two years later, John took a more direct shot at Madonna’s artistry by publicly criticizing her live performances at the 2004 Q Awards. “Madonna, best f––ing live act? F–– off,” he said while speaking onstage. “Since when has lip-synching been live? I think everyone who lip-synchs on stage in public when you pay, like, 75 quid to see them should be shot.”
In 2012, the dispute took center stage when both musical icons were nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Orginal Song—John for “Hello Hello” from the movie Gnomeo & Juliet and Madonna for “Masterpiece” from W.E. Madonna ultimately won in the category and referenced their spat. “[Elton’s] been known to get mad at me, so I don’t know. He’s brilliant, and I adore him, so he’ll win another award. I don’t feel bad,” she said.
John was upset over comments about Lady Gaga
In his 2019 memoir Me, John offered a more specific source of his animosity: Madonna’s comments about fellow pop star Lady Gaga. John pointed to a 2012 talk show interview in which Madonna called the singer’s anthem “Born This Way” a ripoff of her own 1989 song “Express Yourself.”
“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,” John wrote, according to People. “I think it’s just wrong—an established artist shouldn’t kick down a younger artist right at the start of their career.”
It should be noted that John and Lady Gaga are very close, with the “Rocket Man” singer naming her the godmother of his two children with his husband, David Furnish.
In the book, John also apologized for calling Madonna a “nightmare” and comparing her to a “fairground stripper” in response to her Gaga comments. He claimed he didn’t realize the footage, from a 2012 Australian TV interview, would be broadcast.
Luckily, tensions seemed to cool in recent years. In 2023, John praised Madonna for performing her song “Live to Tell” on tour to honor AIDS victims, including late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, and thanked her for her advocacy. John has helped raise more than $600 million to combat the disease through his Elton John AIDS Foundation.
This set the stage for the pair’s impromptu SNL reconciliation this past weekend.
Madonna teased they might work together
Madonna claimed that, upon confronting John, the first thing he said was: “Forgive Me.” The pair also embraced for the photo Madonna shared on Instagram, which now has more than 405,000 likes.
In addition to settling their respective feelings, Madonna claimed John already wrote a song specifically for her and wants to collaborate on a future project. “It was like everything came full circle!!” she wrote, before sharing lyrics from his hit single “Your Song.”
John released his new album with Carlile this past Friday, though the singer’s deteriorating vision has reportedly made working more difficult. He previously revealed he lost all sight in his right eye in July 2024 as well as partial vision in his left—affecting his ability to read lyrics. The collaborators recorded the album back in October 2023 before John contracted the eye infection that has caused his vision loss.
Meanwhile, Madonna has announced she is working on the new album Confessions 2, a sequel to her 2005 project Confessions on a Dance Floor.
Still, the superstar duo might be closer to uniting in a recording studio than we think.
Tyler Piccotti joined the Biography.com staff as an Associate News Editor and is now the News and Culture Editor. He previously worked as a reporter and copy editor for a daily newspaper recognized by the Associated Press Sports Editors. In his current role, he shares the true stories behind your favorite movies and TV shows and profiles rising musicians, actors, and athletes. When he's not working, you can find him at the nearest amusement park or movie theater and cheering on his favorite teams.
