Deadmau5, Madonna Feud Rekindled: Producer Calls Her A ‘Funky Grandma’

Madonna is a ‘funky grandma’, according to Deadmau5. Canadian progressive house producer Deadmau5 (real name: Joel Zimmerman) isn’t done bashing Madonna. Back in March, Zimmerman called Madge an “idiot” after she made a thinly veiled reference to ecstasy use at the Ultra Music Festival. Though they sort of made up (Madonna made the unbelievable argument that she was referring to an unpopular house song, not to the drug widely associated with electronic dance music festivalgoers, and Zimmerman backed off), a new Rolling Stone article may have re-ignited the feud. “You can’t to be ‘hip’ and ‘cool’ and ‘funky grandma’?” Zimmerman said. “Fine. It’s not my place to say you’re irrelevant. If you’re going to come into my world, at least do it with a little more dignity.”
To Zimmerman, it was a simple matter of respect. “I understand she has millions more fans, and is way more successful than I’ll ever be. But it’s like talking about slavery at a blues concert. It’s inappropriate.” Zimmerman is generally not a fan of interviews and press, having argued extensively with reporters in the past. As he’s an artist who has spoken at length about not doing drugs and not making music for people who only want to listen to it while using MDMA/ecstasy, it’s understandable that Deadmau5 was offended by Madge. Her album, after all, was titled MDNA, another outright thinly veiled reference to the drug. And though Madonna is one of the pioneers of electronic dance music, in a sense, her new music is likely to strike Zimmerman as awfully formulaic.