Elton John’s celeb feuds – Prince Harry snub, Simon Cowell swipe and Rod Stewart rivalry

Award-winning singer Elton John has spent the majority of life rubbing shoulders with other famous stars.

But although he is known for his warm inviting persona and incredible music talent, Elton has had a number of run-ins with well known faces.

Whether he’s sharing his critiques on the music industry or speaking candidly to the press, Elton has also become famous for rubbing people up the wrong way.

READ MORE: Glastonbury chiefs ask feral revellers not to pee all over the fields despite loo queues

From Prince Harry to Madonna, Elton has also made a number of frenemies throughout his career.

So as he takes Glastonbury by storm today (June 24), Daily Star has taken a look at his biggest feuds.

Simon Cowell

Elton has never held back his opinions on music talent shows and in 2011 Simon Cowell made sure hit back at the star when Elton shared his thoughts.

Speaking candidly to presenter Piers Morgan, music mogul Simon said that he wasn’t phased by Elton’s comments as he considered him to be “money-grabbing”.

Simon said: “Well, look. 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,” he snarked.

A year earlier it was revealed that the I’m Still Standing singer had declined as a jude on American Idol – which Simon was appearing on at the time – because he found the concept “a***-paralysingly brain-crippling”.

Madonna

Pop legends Madonna and Elton have crossed paths on numerous occasions however their relationship became strained in 2003 when he criticised her James Bond single, Die Another Day.

The hitmaker labelled Madonna’s song “the worst Bond tune ever”, while admittin that “she’s probably killing me after that”.

Although he did state he was still a “big fan” of hers, he appeared to change his tune the following year.

In 2004, when accepting his songwriter gong at the Q Awards, Elton took a swipe at Madonna on stage for the fact that she had been nominated for best live act.

He said: “Madonna, best live act? F*** off!

“Since when has lip-syncing been live? Sorry about that, but I think everyone who lip-syncs on stage in public when you pay like 75 quid to see them should be shot. Thank you very much.”

He then added: “That’s me off her Christmas card list, but do I give a toss?

In 2016, Elton told Graham Norton on his self-titled show that his apologised to Madonna however he later took another aim at her again in 2019.

Rod Stewart

Madonna isn’t the only famous musician that has had a run-in with Elton, as Rod Stewart has also had a turbulent relatiolnship with the star.

The singers first met during the ealier part of their careers and were both incredibly compeititive.

Rod and Elton first clashed after Rod covered Elton’s song Country Comfort but changed the lyrics competely.

At the time Elton complained: “He changed the lyrics, something I complained about at length in the press: ‘He sounds like he made it up as he went along!”

“He couldn’t have got further from the original if he’d sung ‘The Camptown Races’!'”

Despite becoming close later on, in 2018 while speaking to American presenter Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live Rod slammed Elton for his “money-grabbing” tour, stating that it was only about him selling tickets.

“It’s dishonest, it’s not rock ‘n’ roll,” Rod said.

Leona Lewis

X Factor winner Leona Lewis was caught in the cross fire when Elton mentioned her as an artists he wasn’t interested in.

Speaking openly on singing show talents, Elton told the Radio Times in 2010 that he didn’t think much of modern pop stars.

Name-dropping Leona and also 2008 X Factor winner Alexandra Burke, he said that they were “at the mercy of the next song they can get”.

“TV vaults you to superstardom and then you have to back it up, which is hard,” he said at the time.

George Michael

Late singer George Michael and Elton were very good friends and famously sang together on the song, Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me, but their relationship became sour when Elton slammed Michael’s 2004 album Patience.

Elton braned the album a “disappointment” while stating that George was in a “strange place”.

However George snapped back saying Elton didn’t know anything about his private life and that his knowledge about him was from gossip through the “gay grapevine”.

Elton was upset by George’s comments as he didn’t intend to hurt him.

When the singer passed away in 2016, Elton made a touching tribute and said: “I’ll miss him so much for his music, but more than anything for his humanity.”

Prince Harry

Prince Harry and Elton became embroiled in a tense row on the last day of their holiday together with their partners and children after it came to light that Elton had spoken to the Daily Mail about him.

In Harry’s book Spare, he recalled congratulating Elton on finishing his memoir, Me, but admitted that the atmosphere quickly became frosty after the pop legend said that it would be serialised in the Daily Mail.

Harry wrote: “He saw my face. He quickly looked away. ‘Elton, how in the absolute…?”

Questioning his motives, the Duke of Sussex said why would he go to a paper which “made your life miserable”, to which he replied that he wanted people to read it.

Harry said: “He didn’t have an answer. But I didn’t push him. I loved him. I’ll always love him. And I also didn’t want to spoil the holiday.”

In more recent times, Harry and Meghan didn’t show up to Elton’s famous Oscars party – however it is not known if they received an invite.

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk