Coldplay - Martin Still Respects Bono After Slur

COLDPLAY frontman CHRIS MARTIN still "respects" BONO after the Irish rocker insulted him during a recent radio interview - but jokes they are now "archenemies".

The U2 star was forced to apologise to listeners after he called Martin a "w**ker" during a live interview on British station Radio One.

Bono went on to label the musician a "a completely dysfunctional character and a cretin" as well as a "genius melodist".

But Martin insists he is not angry about the slur: "I always thought he felt that way. I think it's great that we're archenemies. That's a joke too.''

The Yellow hitmaker adds, "We respect any musician, particularly ones who've kept going and not changed line-up and have always been good. The difficulty of the whole U2 thing is we're only on our fourth record. We're at a very different stage.''