Elton John Slams Madonna

Elton John has launched an astonishing tirade against Madonna on Australian television. Leaping to the defence of his good friend Lady Gaga, who has been on the receiving end of repeated scorn from the Material Girl, Elton blasted: "Why is she such a nightmare? Sorry, her career is over. Her tour has been a disaster and it couldn't happen to a bigger c***." 

The 65 year-old continued: "If Madonna had any common sense she would have made a record like Ray Of Light and stayed away from the dance stuff and just been a great pop singer and make great pop records, which she does brilliantly. "But no, she had to go and prove... she looks like a f***ing fairground stripper. She's been horrible to Gaga." 

Madonna has made repeated references to alleged similarities between her 1989 hit Express Yourself and Gaga's Born This Way, telling a reporter only last month, "I'm glad that I could help her write it". Having publicly slagged Madge off for years, Elton was thought to have buried the hatchet but resurrected their on-off feud at this year's Golden Globes by predicting she had "no f***ing chance" of winning the gong for Best Original Song. Unfortunately for Elton, Madge won, prompting his partner David Furnish to tweet: "Madonna. Best song???? F*** off!!! Madonna winning Best Original Song truly shows how these awards have nothing to do with merit. Her acceptance speech was embarrassing in its narcissism. And her criticism of Gaga shows how desperate she really is." 

Having been the best of pals throughout the '80s and '90s (the photo was taken in 1995), Elton originally fell out with the Material Girl when she won Best Live Act at the 2004 Q Awards. Elton then famously declared, "Madonna, best f***ing live act? F*** off! Since when has lip-synching been live?" but made it up a few years later at the GQ Awards where he said on stage, "I did offer a grovelling apology and even offered to join Kabbalah. Madonna is a great inspiration to us all. Every record moves on and she steps up to the mark every time." Seems the gloves are off again now though. We await Madonna's response with interest.