Lady Gaga and Madonna's 5-Year "Feud" Is More Complex Than You Think

In October 2009, Gaga and Madonna appeared in a skit together on Saturday Night Live. They both took part in Kenan Thompson's popular recurring fake MTV talk show called Deep House Dish. Ironically, the skit depicts them at each other's throats in a vicious pop feud that involves choking, slapping, wig pulling, and more.

At this point, many had drawn comparisons between Madonna and Gaga. Gaga was, after all, a new avant-garde pop star who pushed the envelope and delivered music interlaced with social commentary. At this point, though, the two were simply just pop stars who traveled in the same musical channels. And this feud depicted on SNL was fiction.

Nearly a year after "Born This Way" came out into the world, Madonna finally broke her silence on the whole thing. And boy, did she have some choice words for Lady Gaga. In a 20/20 interview in January 2012, she said, "I certainly think she references me a lot in her work. And sometimes I think it's amusing and flattering and well done," she said. "When I heard ["Born This Way"] on the radio . . . I said, 'That sounds very familiar.'" On a final note, she remarked, "It feels reductive." If you hadn't guessed, that's not a good thing to be called at all.

Around the same time, Madonna expressed the same sentiment to Newsweek in a slightly different flavor. "I thought, this is a wonderful way to redo my song. I mean, I recognized the chord changes. I thought it was . . . interesting." Huh.

That same Summer, Gaga was on her own tour for Born This Way. During her Finland stop in August 2012, reports suggested Gaga may have mocked Madonna by flashing her ass in a thong and fishnets, something Madonna had very recently done on stage herself. "I don't give a f*ck what people say," Gaga allegedly exclaimed during this supposed mockery. "We don't give a f*ck. We know the truth." As an additional swipe, some reports suggested she was referring to Madonna's track "I Don't Give A —" from MDNA. Seeing as the incident occurred just weeks after Madonna's out jabs, it's possible (though tough to prove) that Gaga was issuing her own rebuttal.

All things considered, 2012 was probably the most heated year between the two pop stars. But then, after everything Madonna did in the Summer, she did something even weirder come September. During a stop in Atlantic City, Madonna dedicated her performance of "Masterpiece" to Lady Gaga. "You wanna know something?" she said to the audience. "I love her. I love her. I do love her. Imitation is the highest form of flattery." But that's the thing, isn't it? Even while she layered on this thick "admiration," she was still saying, underneath everything, that she believed Gaga was an imitator. She continued, saying, "One day, very soon, we're going to be on stage together. Just you wait. You think I'm kidding? I love Lady Gaga."

By the time November rolled around, she seemed to change her tune yet again. Maybe Gaga had actually explicitly rebuffed Madonna or simply not answered her calls. During a concert in St. Paul, MN, Madonna claimed she had asked Gaga to perform with her. "You know, I invited her on stage to sing with me. But she turned me down," Madonna said. "It's OK. I've been rejected before. It builds a little character." It's hard to say where Madonna was really at emotionally when it came to the feud. But it seemed, in her eyes, that Lady Gaga was the one who was holding on to a grudge.

Despite their alleged make up at the 2015 Met Gala, Gaga seemed a bit sensitive when Madonna came up in an October 2016 interview with Zane Lowe. While on Beats 1 Radio, Zane tried to compare the two pop stars. Gaga adamantly opposed the claim.

"Madonna and I are very different. Just saying. We're very different. I wouldn't make that comparison at all, and I don't mean to disrespect Madonna. She's a nice lady, and she's had a fantastic huge career. Biggest pop star of all time. But I play a lot of instruments. I write all my own music. I spend hours and hours a day in the studio. I'm a producer. I'm a writer. What I do is different . . . I don't mean that in a disrespectful way. I just will not be compared to anyone anymore. I am who the f*ck I am, and this is me. My life story is my life story, just like yours is. The thing is we all express things in different ways, but my rebellion at my father for him being angry with me, that has ended."

I'm not saying she does care, contrary to her 2013 interview. I'm also not saying Lady Gaga necessarily reignited the feud with this moment. I'm just saying a lot poured out at the mention of Madonna and maybe that's something we can all think about together. Also, a "nice lady"? Savage.

What's interesting is Gaga seemingly tried to patch things over a couple months later. In December, Madonna gave a powerful speech about sexism in the music industry, as well as her own journey with feminism. Gaga tweeted at Madonna with words of praise: "@Madonna your speech at the Billboard Music Awards was inspiring. You're so brave & strong. Thanks for being that for us girls we need that."

Madonna, it seems, didn't respond. She did, however, tweet prior to Gaga's message, letting her fans know it was "I'M not your B*tch Monday!!!!" So, there's that.

It's been five years since Madonna called Gaga "reductive," but this seems to be the insult that sticks with the pop star the most. In Gaga: Five Foot Two, Mother Monster laments the long-lasting feud.

"The thing with me and Madonna, for example, is that I admired her always. I still admire her, no matter what she might think of me. No, I do. The only thing that really bothers me about her is that I'm Italian and from New York, you know? So like, if I got a problem with somebody, I'm going to f*cking tell you to your face. But no matter how much respect I have for her as a performer, I could never wrap my head around the fact that she wouldn't look me in the eye and tell me that I was 'reductive' or whatever . . . I saw it on f*cking TV. Telling me that you think I'm a piece of sh*t through the media, it's like a guy passing me a note through his friend. 'My buddy thinks you're hot.' . . . F*ck you. Where's your buddy, f*cking throwing me up against the wall and kissing me? I just want Madonna to f*cking to push me against the wall and kiss me and tell me I'm a piece of sh*t."

All things considered, there may no longer be a feud between Gaga and Madonna. Even so, it seems not all of the wounds from the battlefield have healed. Madonna has yet to address the documentary or Gaga's sentiments therein. At this point, it's still clear that Lady Gaga is holding on to some part of the whole crusade, even if only in small ways. It's possible Gaga may never get her closure. It's possible Madonna will never call her a piece of sh*t to her face. It's possible Madonna doesn't even feel that way about Lady Gaga. And unless she publicly talks about Gaga again at some point, we may never have our answer. Then again, Madonna did, at one point, say she had a plan, so maybe this is something where time will tell . . . right? Right?