Elton John has a well-documented history of behaving like a diva.
He's also known to speak his mind, so it's no surprise that he's clashed with a number
of fellow celebrities over the years.
Let's take a look at the many celebrities he just can't stand.
Elton John's feud with Madonna dates back to at least 2002, when he criticized "Die
Another Day," her theme song for the James Bond movie of the same name.
He considered it tuneless, though he did at least maintain that he was a "big fan" of
hers.
Two years later, the "big fan" part flew out of the window, when he started bashing her
for being nominated in the "Best Live Act" category at the Q Awards and accused her of
lip-syncing.
To make matters worse, he delivered the putdown while accepting the Classic Songwriter award.
As he put it,
"That's me off her Christmas card list, but do I give a toss?
No."
Though John eventually partially walked back his comments, he later repeated them, and
the relationship between the two stars remained strained for years afterwards.
In 2012, John even went so far as comparing Madonna to a, quote, "fairground stripper."
In 2016, he revealed on The Graham Norton Show that he'd apologized to her after a chance
encounter in France and promised he wouldn't insult her again.
This lasted until 2019, when he called her "ungracious and nasty" over her feud with
Lady Gaga.
Elton John and David Bowie were two of the most flamboyant and exciting artists of the
70s, so it was only natural that they would cross paths.
The two of them and glam rock pioneer Marc Bolan of the band T. Rex used to be a tight
unit back in the day, as they hit gay clubs together and just spent plenty of time hanging
out.
Unfortunately, time took its toll on the relationship, and John has admitted that he and Bowie weren't
on good terms in later life.
He attributes this in part to the fact that they simply drifted apart.
However, it appears that some bad blood might've been boiling when the Starman started badmouthing
the Rocket Man.
As John told the Evening Standard in 2016,
"He once called me 'rock 'n' roll's token queen' in an interview with Rolling Stone,
which I thought was a bit snooty.
He wasn't my cup of tea.
No; I wasn't his cup of tea."
Regardless of these less-than-pleasant comments and perceived snootiness, John was impressed
with the way that Bowie handled dying when he passed away in 2016.
As he put it,
"Everyone else take note of this: Bowie couldn’t have staged a better death.
It was classy."
"Irreplaceable."
Elton John has enjoyed a decades-long frenemy relationship with fellow knighted musician
Rod Stewart.
They've been almost cartoonishly competitive, and the practical jokes they've pulled on
each other are borderline wicked.
John once hired a man with an air rifle to snipe Stewart's promotional blimps, while
Stewart once arranged a safari heist to "steal" a bunch of John's expensive Cartier jewelry.
Despite all that, they've been plenty friendly in their private lives.
They've jokingly dubbed each other "Sharon" and "Phyllis," and exchanged many gifts that
have been accompanied with the sort of grievous insults that only the best of friends could
come up with.
Unfortunately, though, it looks like their friendship isn't what it used to be.
In 2018, Stewart provoked John's ire when he appeared on Watch What Happens Live and
criticized John for his lengthy, quote, "money-grabbing" farewell tour, as he opined that it was all
about just selling tickets.
"It's dishonest.
It's not rock and roll."
The following year, Stewart revealed that John didn't like his comments, and that the
pair had fallen out as a result and weren't even on speaking terms.
George Michael is another celeb who started out as friends with Elton John, but then ended
up on bad terms.
They drifted apart in the mid-2000s, when John lambasted Michael's 2004 album Patience
as a disappointment and told Heat magazine that he thought the "Faith" singer was in,
quote, "a strange place."
Michael wasn't a fan of this uninvited commentary, so he promptly provided Heat with a scathing
letter that made it clear that John didn't know anything about his private life, and
that the pair had only rarely interacted in the past decade.
He even said that John's knowledge about him was largely confined to gossip through the,
quote, "gay grapevine."
To be fair, there's a chance that John never intended his comments to take things this
far.
Their falling out reportedly left the Rocket Man extremely upset.
After Michael passed away in 2016, John had nothing but good things to say about him and
their old friendship.
In an emotional tribute on his radio show, he said,
"I'll miss him so much for his music, but more than anything for his humanity."
You can describe Bob Dylan as a lot of things, but there's a pretty good chance that "fashionista"
isn't one of them.
Nevertheless, his fashion sense, or lack thereof, came into play during one of Elton John's
wild parties in the 80s.
And unfortunately for Dylan, the host happened to be high out of his mind at the time.
When John noticed an incredibly scruffy man he didn't recognize having a drink, he assumed
it was a staff member who had ideas above his station.
In his memoir, Me, he recounted,
"I loudly demanded to know what the gardener was doing helping himself to a drink.
There was a moment's shocked silence, broken by my PA saying, 'Elton, that’s not the
gardener.
It's Bob Dylan.'"
That might've been the end of it, if it weren't for the fact that John then grabbed Dylan
and steered him inside with promises of a makeover.
As he declared at the time,
"Bob! Bob! We can't have you in those terrible clothes, darling.
Come upstairs and I'll fit you out with some of mine at once.
Come on, dear!'"
Dylan was predictably terrified at this prospect.
And this wasn't the last of their misadventures.
The pair later had dinner with Simon and Garfunkel, and afterwards, Dylan found himself awkwardly
playing party games with the others.
Apparently, he was so bad at it that John started pelting him with oranges.
Keith Richards is known for being just as sharp-tongued as Elton John.
Both English rockers have been known to skewer their colleagues, and as it happens, they
also reportedly harbor a healthy disdain for each other.
According to Rolling Stone, their feud may or may not have started in 1975, when John
reportedly outstayed his welcome in a 10-song guest spot at a Rolling Stones concert.
We can say for sure that the two have traded barbs since at least 1988, when Richards described
John as a, quote, "lovely bloke, but posing."
The stealth disses eventually turned to real ones, when Richards repeatedly insulted John's
theatrical antics and his Princess Diana tribute, "Candle in the Wind 1997."
John soon replied with some choice words himself when he said,
"I'm glad I've given up drugs and alcohol.
It would be awful to be like Keith Richards.
He's pathetic, poor thing.
It's like a monkey with arthritis, trying to go onstage and look young.
I have great respect for the Stones but they would have been better if they had thrown
Keith out 15 years ago."
The two men are unlikely to become close friends anytime soon, though now their mutual animosity
at least seems to be on the back burner.
In 2015, the Stones' Ron Wood even managed to get them to pose for a photo together.
The 2008 GQ Men of the Year Award ceremony in London became a rather interesting event,
when hosts Elton John and Lily Allen got into a verbal catfight while onstage.
Things started out normally, but then John appeared to become annoyed with Allen's behavior,
which became more erratic as the night went on.
As Allen said,
"And now the most important part of the night..."
John couldn't contain himself anymore, as he snapped,
"What?
Are you going to have another drink?"
From that point forward, the sparks could no longer be contained.
Allen countered with,
"F--- off Elton.
I am 40 years younger than you and have my whole life ahead of me!"
To which John parried,
"I could still snort you under the table."
This evidently threw Allen, who ended the dialogue with:
"F--- off.
I don't know what you are talking about."
Allen later admitted to MTV News that she had unapologetically indulged in some champagne.
But she also said that the perceived bad blood between her and John was entirely invented
by the media.
And John doesn't really seem to think that Allen is all that bad either.
In a 2010 interview with Radio Times Magazine, he recognized her as among the young pop musicians
of the day that he liked.
In 2011, Elton John turned his critical gaze toward music competition shows, as he declared
that they "killed" talent and had ruined the British pop music scene.
And when you're talking about music competition shows, you can't avoid Simon Cowell, the man
behind American Idol, The X Factor, and America's Got Talent.
As a bit of a blunt-spoken man himself, Cowell promptly struck back.
In an interview with Piers Morgan, he said in no uncertain terms that he didn't think
much of the music legend's comments, since he considers John to be a bit of a money-grabber.
As he put it,
"This is somebody who charges what, a million dollars a private gig?
Two million dollars, you know?
I don't know whether he's concerned about himself, maybe he is.
But they always bleat on that we're not giving other people a chance."
"They're only worried about themselves."
Cowell then advised John to use some of his private concert money to help aspiring musicians.
But John may have just delivered the most scathing comment in this particular feud a
full year before it even started.
In 2010, he revealed that he refused a judge's seat on American Idol because he found the
very concept, quote, "arse-paralyzingly brain-crippling."
If you ever want to make an enemy out of Elton John, the easiest way is probably by lip-syncing
while you're a professional musician.
This came up during his notorious feud with Madonna when he uttered the infamous words:
"Anyone who lip-syncs in public on stage when you pay 75 pounds to see them should be shot."
"What would your advice be to Madonna this year?"
"Make sure you lip sync good."
In 2016, it was Janet Jackson's turn to go through the grinder.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, John said in no uncertain terms that he believed that
Jackson was lip-syncing during her Unbreakable tour, and that he didn't much care for it.
As he put it,
"You know, f---ing music magazines writing a review of Janet Jackson saying, 'This is
the greatest show – four and a half stars.'
It’s f---ing lip-synced!
Hello!
That's not a show!
I’d rather go and see a drag queen.
F--- off."
Obviously, John doesn't like it when something artificial comes out of a musician's mouth.
In 2010, Elton John made his views about the sad state of pop music abundantly clear.
In an interview with Radio Times Magazine, he revealed that he doesn't think much of
modern songwriters, as he noted that the only way pop stars can take a stand for themselves
is if they write their own songs.
He then name-dropped two winners of British talent show The X Factor, as he said,
"Leona Lewis and Alexandra Burke are at the mercy of the next song they can get."
According to John, the proper way to sustain a career is by applying some elbow grease
and learning the craft by starting out with tiny clubs and paying your dues.
He noted himself as a successful example of this method.
It doesn't appear that there were any hard feelings with Lewis, though.
Despite what John had to say about the way she became famous, she wasn't turned off of
his music forever, which was clear in 2016, when she recorded a rather enticing version
of his hit 1970 tune, "Your Song."
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