Sorry Lady Gaga, Madonna Realized She Talked About “100 People in the Room” First

If you’ve watched one Lady Gaga interview throughout the press circuit for A Star Is Born, you’ve seen them all, or at least specifically you’ve heard Gaga’s now-famed (and much-memed) quote, “There can be 100 people in the room and 99 don’t believe in you but all it takes is one who does.” Over the past couple of months, Gaga has shared a handful of iterations of the quote, and it only took one for Madonna to respond.

Yesterday on Instagram Stories, Madonna shared a clip of a throwback interview where she just so happens to tell a reporter, “There’s 100 people in the room and 99 people say they liked it, I only remember the one person who didn’t like it.” It didn’t take long for many on the internet to assume that Madonna posted the quote in reference to Gaga’s string of similar “100 people in a room” quotes—and it took just as long for someone to make a montage of the two artists sharing their respective quotes.

Despite the fact that both quotes start with the same opening line, the sentiment behind them is notably different. Madonna’s was about remembering criticism while Gaga’s is about encouragement and empowerment. Both have their place within the world, and as inspirational quotes endlessly reposted on social media.

What’s more surprising than the fact that Gaga’s main A Star Is Born press quote is potentially rooted in something Madonna said decades ago is that Madonna took the opportunity to point it out. The same day she posted her own version, she also shared a photo of herself clutching a rose with the caption, “Don’t f-ck with me Monday” and boxing glove emojis. Of course, that is something Madonna would just post unprompted, so who knows if it’s related.

Madonna and Lady Gaga have a long-running history of calling out both each other and the media for pitting females against another. Back in 2013, after the pair exchanged comments in the media stemming from Gaga’s “Born This Way,” which was called out as taking too much inspiration from Madonna’s “Express Yourself” (without giving credit), Gaga told Howard Stern, “It’s silly. There’s always this pissing match, ‘Did she take her torch?’ [and] ‘Is she the new her?’ ‘Is she going to outlast her?’… There’s this thing with some people that I’m a threat to the throne. And I don’t want your f*cking throne. And no thanks. And I have my own, and I don’t actually want a throne at all.”

Madonna replied two years later, telling Rolling Stone, “I don’t think [Gaga] wants my crown. We live in a world where people like to pit women against each other. And this is why I love the idea of embracing other females who are doing what I’m doing…. The only time I ever criticized Lady Gaga was when I felt like she blatantly ripped off one of my songs. It’s got nothing to do with ‘she’s taking my crown’ or ‘she’s in some space of mine.’ She has her thing. I do think she’s a very talented singer and songwriter. It was just that one issue. And everybody’s obviously running with it and turned it into a huge feud, which I think is really boring, quite frankly. And you know what? I don’t care anymore. Here’s the thing: One day everyone’s going to shut up about it.” That day has yet to come.