Feuds between celebrities can be tricky to navigate. If not handled correctly, wars can be waged either quietly or on social media for years. However, when there’s mutual respect between the involved parties, misunderstandings can often be resolved with no hard feelings. The latter seems to be what happened between Madonna and Cardi B, after the rapper took issue with the A League of Their Own actress’ comments about paving the way for women like Cardi B, Kim Kardashian and Miley Cyrus in regards to sexuality in the media.
With the feud already seemingly concluded over the course of the weekend, let’s take a look at what transpired between the music icons.
Why Were Madonna And Cardi B Feuding?
The feud started after Madonna took to her Instagram Stories to reflect on the 30-year anniversary of her book S.E.X., saying that at the time she received a lot of criticism from people trying to shame her for sharing the naked images and for describing sexual fantasies and her take on sexuality. Spending years being called “a whore, a witch a heretic and the devil” blazed the trail for a new generation of women to embrace their sexuality, she said:
Now Cardi B can sing about her WAP. Kim Kardashian can grace the cover of any magazine with her naked ass and Miley Cyrus can come in like a wrecking ball. You’re welcome bitches …….🤡
The issue lies in the clown emoji, as surely nobody can argue the ways that Madonna injected sex into pop culture in ways that hadn’t been seen in the 1980s and ‘90s. Cardi B — who has temporarily left Twitter over previous spats — responded in a series of now-deleted tweets, arguing that her point could have been made without disrespecting other women. She said (via Variety):
I literally [paid] this woman homage so many times cause I grew up listening to her… she can make her point without putting clown emojis and getting slick out the mouth. These icons really become disappointments once u make it in the industry that’s why I keep to myself.
Cardi B said she was disappointed that someone she had respected growing up would have an attitude like Madonna appeared to show in her Instagram Stories.
How Did The Singers Squash Their Beef?
Soon after these exchanges, Hollywood Unlocked’s Jason Lee tweeted that he was on the phone with both women, whose conversation he said seemed to be expanding their respect for one another. Madonna and Cardi B appeared to support this narrative, with the “I Like It” singer sharing:
I talked to Madonna …It was beautiful 🥲….Have a great day and drive safely yallll😘October 23, 2022
No details of the conversation were divulged, but she seemed to be signaling to their fans that they could get on with their days after the “beautiful” sentiments were exchanged. The veteran musician-turned-actress returned the sentiment, not only showing love for the artist post-feud, but suggesting that the respect has always been there. Madonna tweeted:
I love you @iamcardib !! ♥️Always have and always will.October 23, 2022
Cardi B later took to Instagram Live to talk out the situation a little bit more, explaining why she was upset about the “Express Yourself” singer’s initial words and how she was feeling after talking it out with Madonna. You can see what she had to say below:
It’s good to see the two women were able to talk this out civilly and (mostly) privately — as Madonna also did during a short-lived feud with Lady Gaga — in order to extinguish the flames before more gas was able to be thrown on the fire. It’s hard to see how there wouldn’t be common ground between artists who pushed (and are still pushing) the boundaries of what women can express through music and performance, each in their own time.
