Madonna poked fun at fellow pop artist Lady Gaga after mixing up the city of Toronto, Canada, where she was performing, with Boston in the US.
The “Vogue” singer, 65, has been playing a string of shows as part of her ongoing Celebration tour, which marks four decades of hits with a set including “Hung Up”, “Holiday”, “Ray of Light” and “La Isla Bonita”.
Last week, during the second of her two shows at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, the Queen of Pop addressed an earlier gaffe where she said “hello Boston” instead of “hello Toronto”.
“Are you guys mad at me because I said ‘hello Boston’?” she asked the crowd. “I’m sorry. What kind of f***ed-up s*** is that?” That would be like if you guys were saying, ‘Hey, Lady Gaga’s playing tonight!”
“I wouldn’t like that,” she continued. “I mean, you know, nothing against Lady Gaga. Love her.”
As the audience cheered, Madonna paused before quipping: “I love anyone shorter than me.”
Madonna previously criticised Lady Gaga for her ‘reductive’ song ‘Born This Way’
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Madonna and Lady Gaga appeared to quash rumours of a feud between them in 2019, when they were photographed together at Madonna’s Oscar’s afterparty.
While Gaga has frequently cited the fellow artist as one of her biggest inspirations, Madonna has been less than favourable about the “Just Dance” singer.
In 2012, she said that Gaga’s song “Born This Way” felt “reductive”, after many fans compared the hit single to her own song, “Express Yourself”.
Gaga addressed the criticism in her Netflix 2017 Netflix documentary, Five Foot Two, commenting: “So the thing with me and Madonna for example, is that I admired her always.
“And I still admire her, no matter what she might think of me. She wouldn’t look me in the eye and tell me that I was reductive or whatever… Telling me you think I’m a piece of s*** through the media? It’s like a guy passing me a note through his friend.”
Lady Gaga at the VMAs in 2009
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She added: “I just want Madonna to f**king push me up against the wall and kiss me and tell me I’m a piece of s**t.”
Gaga was also backed by Elton John, who called Madonna out in his memoir, Me as he accused the pop icon of being “nasty”.
“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,” he wrote, “…particularly when she claims to be a champion for women.”
He continued: “I think it’s just wrong – an established artist shouldn’t kick down a younger artist right at the start of their career.”
Madonna was forced to postpone the North American leg of her tour last year after contracting “a serious bacterial infection” that required treatment at an intensive care unit (ICU).
Her shows continues this week at the Bell Centre in Montreal on Thursday 18 January, before she heads to New York City for two nights at Madison Square Garden.
