Elton John has shared his praise for Madonna, following the pop sensation making a “heartfelt” tribute to AIDs victims during her ‘Celebration Tour’.
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The legendary singer-songwriter and pianist shared his appreciation for the Queen of Pop in a new post on social media – thanking her for shedding light on the struggle faced by AIDs victims.
“We’re deeply moved by the heartfelt tribute from @madonna during her Celebration Tour performance of ‘Live to Tell’, honouring the 40.4million people we’ve lost to AIDs,” Sir Elton last night (October 26) alongside an image of the singer during one of her recent performances.
“Thank you, Madonna, for your advocacy and compassion, and for raising important awareness of the ongoing mission to end AIDS,” he added, sharing the post with his 4.7million followers on the platform.
“With 39million people living with HIV today, 9.4million of whom are not currently on life-saving treatment, we must keep using our voices and platforms to ensure everyone has the opportunity to live full and healthy lives.”
The praise from Sir Elton – who has long worked with AIDs charities – comes following the two previously being engaged in various feuds across their careers. This was most recently seen back in 2019 when the ‘Rocket Man’ singer branded Madonna “ungracious and nasty” after hearing about the comments she had made towards Lady Gaga.
Here, Sir Elton recalled Madge’s famous feud with Gaga in his memoir Me, and explained how, in turn, it led to his own dispute with the Queen of Pop.
“I used to make fun of [Madonna] for lip-syncing on stage, but the problem really started when she ran Gaga down on an American chat show,” he wrote.
The chat show appearance he recalled was in reference to a 2012 ABC News interview in which Madonna claimed that Gaga’s ‘Born This Way’ was “reductive”, and likened it to her own 1989 hit ‘Express Yourself’.
“I got that Gaga’s single ‘Born This Way’ definitely sounded similar to ‘Express Yourself,’ but 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 continued.
In another instance, he branded her a “fairground stripper” – although he later revealed that he’d apologised for the comments. It was subsequently reported that Madonna “didn’t care” what John had to say about her.
Sir Elton John performs on The Pyramid Stage at Day 5 of Glastonbury Festival 2023. CREDIT: Harry Durrant/Getty Images
“I was furious and I said some pretty horrible things about her to a TV interviewer in Australia” he remembered in the memoir. “You can tell from the footage that it wasn’t part of the interview [but] they broadcast it anyway, which brought that particular old friendship to a very swift conclusion. Still, I shouldn’t have said it. I apologised.”
Madonna kicked off her long-awaited ‘Celebration’ tour earlier this month with several stops at The O2 in London.
The dates came after the legendary artist spent several days in ICU in June, which led to the original opening shows of her 40th anniversary tour being postponed. It was reported that the singer’s relatives were initially “preparing for the worst” when they discovered how unwell she was.
In a five-star review of the opening night, NME described the gig as showcasing “a series of spectacular set-pieces referencing iconic highlights from Madonna’s reign”.
As for other Elton John news, the iconic musician spoke out against Suella Braverman’s calls to ban LGBTQ+ asylum seekers from coming to the UK, and accused her of “legitimising hate and violence”.
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