This past weekend, Sir Elton John performed on Saturday Night Live with Brandi Carlile. Apparently, word of the show got to Madonna, who decided to attend the gig and, eventually, squash the longstanding beef between her and John.
“We Finally Buried the Hatchet!!!,” Madonna wrote in the caption of a recent Instagram post showcasing her and John embracing backstage. “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.”
“Over the decades, it hurt me to know that someone I admired so much shared his dislike of me publicly as an artist,” she continued. “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… Then he told me had written a song for me and he wanted to collaborate.”
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The two pop stars have seemingly had an ongoing feud for over two decades, though most of the animosity appeared to be coming from John’s camp. He called Madonna’s theme song for the 2002 James Bond film Die Another Day “the worst Bond tune ever,” accused her of lip-syncing at the 2004 Q Awards, and said she acts like a “fairground stripper” in 2012.
Various stories of their reconciliation have circulated in the years since, including a reported dinner in France. With the SNL reunion and Madonna’s Instagram post, however, it seems as if their relationship has been fully patched up.
Elton John recently released a collaborative album with Brandi Carlile, Who Believes In Angels? (pick up a vinyl copy here). For her part, Madonna made her return to the Comedy Cellar in New York City to perform standup comedy in January.
