Getting an apology from the acid-tongued Joan Rivers always seemed like a long shot, even if the demand came from Adele.
Sure enough, far from saying sorry for making catty jokes about the British singer's weight, Miss Rivers simply let rip again. “She's a chubby lady who's very, very rich and she should just calm down or lose weight,” the 79-year-old US comedian sniped.
The spat between the two formidable women stems from Miss Rivers's appearance on David Letterman's US chat show shortly after the Oscars in February.
She recalled meeting 24-year-old Adele for the first time on the red carpet at the ceremony where the singer won an Oscar for her James Bond song Skyfall.
Referring to another of Adele's hits, and stretching out her arms to describe the singer's size, Miss Rivers said: “What is her song? Rolling in the Deep? She should add fried chicken!” It has since transpired that the singer, whose full name is Adele Adkins, asked Miss Rivers to apologise for her cruel comments.
But, appearing on the Huffington Post Live website, the comedienne refused to back down. She said: “She wanted an apology, so I took an ad out on her ass. I said you are not fat, and then I had room for a lot of other ads.”
“Adele is beautiful and successful, has, what, $100million? I am saying she is fat, but let's face reality, she's fat. Chicken is good because you can sell it Adele. You will always have a market.”
Adele, who gave birth to her first child, son Angelo, last year, and has bagged a Grammy and a Golden Globe as well as the Oscar in the past three months, has refused to react publicly to the comments.