From heated award show spectacles to saucy interview confessionals, celebrity beef is the guilty pleasure that keeps on giving. Here are 10 celebrities who’ve gotten extremely vocal about their opinions on other celebrities.
1. Elton John came for both Madonna and Keith Richards. The heated feud between John and Richards began in 1988 when Richards described John as a “lovely bloke…but posing,” to Rolling Stone. The pair has since exchanged a volley of snide remarks about each other over copious interview confessions through the years.
In a 1997 Daily News interview, John revealed, “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. … I just think he’s an asshole and I have for a long time.”
Richards isn’t the only celebrity that John has openly shared his opinion on. At the Q Awards in 2004, Madonna and John were both nominated for Best Live Act. After winning the award, John dissed Madonna in his acceptance speech.
"Madonna, best live act? Fuck off. Since when has lip-syncing been live? Anyone who lip syncs in public onstage when you pay 75 pounds to see them should be shot. Thank you very much,” he finished. Award shows have quite the reputation for bringing out unspoken emotions…
2. Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the 2009 VMAs. The moment that West stole the microphone still ripples through the internet continuum. After winning Best Female Video for “You Belong With Me,” an ecstatic Swift expressed her gratitude until she was unexpectedly cut off by West.
His speech (for an award he didn’t win) was the catalyst for a tumultuous friendship-turned-feud. West spewed, "Yo, Taylor, I'm really happy for you, I'ma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time!" I’ve heard of sore losers, and even sore winners (looking at you, Elton), but West was one of the first sore non-nominees.
3. Sharon Osbourne talked sauce on Ashton Kutcher. Osbourne opened up to E! News when she was prompted to: “Name the rudest celebrity [she’d] ever met.” At first, Osbourne couldn’t remember his name. “The guy that’s married to an actress and he used to do That '70s Show," she puzzled, fishing for answers. After getting confirmation that “the guy” was Ashton Kutcher, she went on to call him a “rude, rude, rude, rude, rude little boy,” and a “dastardly little thing." Didn’t anyone ever tell Osbourne that it’s rude to forget someone’s name?
4. Speaking of Osbournes, Kelly Osbourne and Christina Aguilera were highly vocal about their beef. The squabble started back in the 2000s when Osbourne went in on Aguilera. One of Aguilera’s clapback tactics included chucking darts at a photo of Osbourne at the 2003 MTV Europe Music Awards.
Of the many things Osbourne had to say about Aguilera through the years, her comment about Aguilera’s body on an episode of Fashion Police was a low blow. Osbourne exclaimed, “Maybe she is just becoming the fat bitch she was born to be. I don't know. She was a cunt to me.”
5. Adam Levine got scrappy with Lady Gaga in a 2013 Twitter war. It started when Levine took to social media to express his distaste at the repurposing of artwork. He decided to share his thoughts amidst the release of Gaga’s music video for “Art Pop,” which featured many classic works of art.
Levine tweeted, “Ugh..recycling old art for a younger generation doesn't make you an artist. It makes you an art teacher.” Gaga retorted, “uh oh guys the art police is here.”
6. Martha Stewart talked smack about Gwyneth Paltrow, but Paltrow smacked back. In an interview with Porter Magazine, Stewart shared some candid advice for Paltrow. Stewart admitted, “She just needs to be quiet. She's a movie star. If she were confident in her acting, she wouldn't be trying to be Martha Stewart."
The drama got culinary when the pair wrote retaliation recipes targeted at one another. In an issue of Martha Stewart Living, a feature on deserts titled Conscious Coupling was published. The story celebrated sweet treats with “the perfect marriage of crust and filling.” The Conscious Coupling title was a jab at Paltrow’s "conscious uncoupling” and separation from her husband, Chris Martin.
Paltrow responded with a recipe for Jailbird Cake, which she published in Goop as a subtle nod to Stewart’s criminal past and her five-month stay in the slammer.
7. Harrison Ford called Shia LaBeouf a “fucking idiot.” After sharing the screen together in Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, LaBeouf and Ford had some choice words for each other. While promoting their movie, LaBeouf claimed that he and Steven Spielberg “dropped the ball” on the project.
Ford went on to criticize LaBeouf’s publicity tactics. “I think I told him he was a f–king idiot,” Ford revealed to Details Magazine. “As an actor, I think it’s my obligation to support the film without making a complete ass of myself,” he continued.
8. Bette Midler slut-shamed Ariana Grande. In an interview with The Telegraph, Midler admitted, “It's always surprising to see someone like Ariana Grande with that silly high voice, a very wholesome voice, slithering around on a couch looking so ridiculous."
“Trust your talent,” Midler advised. “You don’t have to make a whore out of yourself to get ahead. You really don’t.” Grande responded to Midler’s feedback in a tweet. She wrote, “Bette was always a feminist who stood for women being able to do whatever the F they wanted without judgement! not sure where that Bette went but i want that sexy mermaid back!!! always a fan no matter what my love,” Grande shared. Midler wasn’t the only celebrity who had something to say about Grande…
9. Jennette McCurdy dished the details on her riddled relationship with Ariana Grande in her memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died. McCurdy and Grande were costars on Nickelodeon’s Sam & Cat, which only lived to see a single season. While their show was being filmed, Grande’s music career took off to new heights, while McCurdy was left to salvage Sam & Cat in her absence.
McCurdy wrote, “So I have to turn down movies while Ariana’s off whistle-toning at the Billboard Music Awards? Fuck. This.” She went on to reveal, “I’m pissed about it. And I’m pissed at her. Jealous of her.” McCurdy and Grande may have looked like best friends onscreen, but the rivalry that was brewing off-camera is something that McCurdy has never been shy about.
10. Anthony Ramos and Jonathan Groff called out Madonna’s manners after she scrolled through their performance of Hamilton. Groff was asked if he was upset that Madonna wasn’t permitted backstage after the show. He replied, "No. Because that bitch was on her phone. You couldn’t miss it from the stage,” he said at the time. “It was a black void of the audience in front of us and her face there perfectly lit by the light of her iPhone through three-quarters of the show.”
Ramos also commented on the Madonna incident in an interview on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. He recalled how Madonna’s face was illuminated by her device and practically glued to it throughout the entire show. “I was like, ‘Damn, shorty! If you not enjoying it that much, you know the door’s right there. You ain’t gotta stay here,” Ramos remarked.
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