Two artists who rarely, if ever, find themselves entangled in music beef are The Weeknd and Usher. They’re two highly accomplished entertainers who are beloved by fans far and wide, so months ago when The Weeknd had a few comments about Usher’s sound, people ran with it and pitted the artists against each other. “I heard ‘Climax,’ that Usher song, and was like, ‘Holy f—, that’s a Weeknd song’,” he told Variety back in April. “It was very flattering, and I knew I was doing something right, but I also got angry. But the older I got, I realized it’s a good thing.”

The Weeknd, Usher, Climax
Pascal Le Segretain / Staff / Getty Images

Later, Usher issued a short-lived “#ClimaxChallenge” to show off his singing skills while The Weeknd returned to Twitter to say his comments were taken out of context. In a recent interview with Esquire, the XO Records mogul doubled down that his previous comments weren’t given with malicious intent and he wasn’t trying to speak ill of the R&B singer.

“I hit him up to apologize and tell him that it was misconstrued,” The Weeknd told the publication. He was annoyed that anyone would think that he had ulterior motives. “He’s one of the reasons why I make music. Definitely. No, no, I have nothing bad to say about Usher. The sweetest, most down-to-earth guy ever.”

[via]