Elton John slams Madonna for being "ungracious and nasty" to Lady Gaga

Defending pop-singer Lady Gaga in his new memoir 'Me', singer-songwriter Elton John slammed Madonna as "ungracious and nasty" to a younger artist.

In 2011, the 33-year-old Gaga who is the godmother of John's sons, drew criticism for similarities between her song 'Born This Way' and Madonna's hit 'Express Yourself'.

In the memoir, the 72-year-old admits that the songs "definitely sound similar", but that he "couldn't see why [Madonna] was so ungracious and nasty about it -- particularly when she claims to be a champion for women."

"I think it's just wrong," he said via Yahoo! Entertainment. "An established artist shouldn't kick down a younger artist right at the start of their career," he added.

John has often resorted to criticising Madonna sharply for a decade now, beginning in 2004, with him claiming that she lip-synced in performances and that he believed "everyone who lip-syncs on stage in public ... should be shot." He later said she looked like a "fairground stripper" on an Australian newscast, according to Yahoo, reported Fox News.

Elaborating upon the incident, John wrote, "I was furious and I said some pretty horrible things about her to a TV interviewer in Australia, a guy I'd known since the '70s called Molly Meldrum."

"You can tell from the footage that it wasn't part of the interview, that I was just sounding off to an old friend between takes. ... They broadcast it anyway, which brought that particular old friendship to a very swift conclusion. Still, I shouldn't have said it. I apologized," he said.