Prince has delivered new music unto us, and we are all eternally grateful. He has also delivered catty remarks about celebrities to us, and for that, we are even more grateful.

The web has jumped all over a recent interview Prince did with Billboard Magazine, in which he talks smack about his old rival/former girlfriend Madonna and gets in a dig at Maroon 5 for being gauche enough to cover other people’s songs, even though Prince himself has done numerous covers which went on to be hits.

When talking about his old relationship with Warner Brothers, Prince also called out Madge, sort of:

“It was also about Madonna,” he says. “She was getting paid, but at the time we were selling more records and selling out concerts on multiple nights. It wasn’t about her. This was about business.”

About Maroon 5, who included a cover of his song “Kiss” on their latest album much to his dismay, Prince said:

“I do pay performance royalties on others’ songs I perform live, but I’m not recording these songs and putting them up for sale,” he says. “Why do we need to hear another cover of a song that someone else did? Art is about building a new foundation, not just laying something on top of what’s already there.” At this point he references Maroon 5’s cover of his “Kiss,” letting it be known that he wasn’t thrilled by it.

Of course, Prince has done covers himself, including the hit “Betcha By Golly Wow!”, “La-La (Means I Love You)”, Joan Osborne’s “One of Us”, and Sheryl Crow’s “Everyday Is a Winding Road.”

The comments about Madonna are what everyone is interested in, however, since the two of them famously dated briefly in the ’80s before turning on one another in the public eye. Madge is quoted in a discussion about their first date as saying Prince was a “little troll” who didn’t eat his dinner.

“He was just sipping tea, very daintily,” Madonna said. “I have this theory about people who don’t eat. They annoy me.”

No word yet from the superstar on what she thinks about his comments or his comeback.

Image: Billboard