Madonna has said she and Sir Elton John have “buried the hatchet” and put an end to their decades-long feud.
Sir Elton, 78, has repeatedly accused Madonna of lip syncing over the years, prompting Madonna’s team – back in 2004 – to respond that she did not “spend her time trashing other artists”.
The music legends reconciled over the weekend after Madonna went to “confront” Sir Elton following his performance on Saturday Night Live (SNL), she wrote on Instagram.
“The first thing out of his mouth was ‘forgive me’, and the wall between us fell down,” she added.
The Vogue singer, 66, said she had been a fan of Sir Elton since she was a teenager.
“Seeing him perform when I was in high school changed the course of my life,” the post read.
“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.”
The strain on the pair’s relationship has its roots in the noughties.
In 2004, Sir Elton ridiculed Madonna’s nomination in the Best Live Act category at the Q Awards, using explicit language.
He asked: “Since when has lip syncing been live?”
“Anyone who lip syncs in public on stage when you pay £75 to see them should be shot,” he continued.
Madonna’s team denied that she did not sing live.
Sir Elton doubled down on his criticism in the years that followed, and in 2012 said Madonna didn’t stand a “chance” of beating him to the Golden Globe for best original song.
After picking up the award for her song Masterpiece, Madonna told reporters she hoped Sir Elton would “speak to me for the next couple of years”.
“He’s been known to get mad at me.”
In her post on Monday, Madonna suggested the reconciliation may lead to a musical partnership.
“He told me [he] had written a song for me and he wanted to collaborate.”
In response, Sir Elton thanked Madonna for “forgiving me and my big mouth”.
The singer added that he was not proud of what he had said over the years, especially considering Madonna’s “ground-breaking work… paving the way for an entire generation of female artists to succeed and be true to themselves”.
“I’m increasingly distressed by all the divisiveness in our world at the moment,” he said in a comment on her Instagram post.
“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.”
