In the days since the British pop star Boy George posted a pro-Israel reggae song on his X account last weekend — with lyrics like “You say genocide / I say war” and “You never mention Oct. 7 / Young girls raped against trees, murdered brutally / For the crime of dancing” — the track has caused a furor online.
Now, the singer’s manager has pulled him out of a two-week stint in a hit West End revival of “Jesus Christ Superstar.” The singer was scheduled to play King Herod in a London Palladium production from Aug. 3 to 15 — one of several stars taking on the role for brief runs.
Paul Kemsley, Boy George’s manager, wrote on Instagram late Thursday that he had made the decision “in the best interests of my artist while also showing respect to others.”
“In this instance, I felt it was right to step aside, allowing the production to remain the focus,” Kemsley said in the lengthy post. He did not directly mention the furor or the track, which Boy George said he had written with the aid of artificial intelligence.
A representative for both Kemsley and Boy George did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did a representative for the producers of “Jesus Christ Superstar.”
Richard Armitage, a British actor currently performing as King Herod in the show, is now covering Boy George’s dates, according to the London Palladium’s website.
Since the October 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel and Israel’s military invasion of the Gaza Strip, Boy George, whose real name is George Alan O’Dowd, has made public comments in support of Israel. “I have a lot of Jewish friends and there would never be a situation where I’d turn my back on them,” he said last month in an interview with The Daily Telegraph, a British newspaper.
“It doesn’t mean that I don’t have compassion for Palestinians, it doesn’t mean that I agree with what’s going on in Israel,” he added, “but I am always going to defend the people that I love.”
In April, he was among the signatories of a letter denouncing calls for the Eurovision Song Contest to bar Israel from competing in the annual event. It was issued after five countries, including Spain and Ireland, said they were boycotting the competition over Israel’s military actions in Gaza.
The flamboyant singer is best known as the frontman of Culture Club, a pop reggae group whose megahits in the 1980s included “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me” and “Karma Chameleon.” The latter track reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100.
His casting in the revival of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice rock opera, did not cause a stir when it was announced in February. But some theater fans were outraged over Boy George’s new track, whose Hebrew title translates to “We Will Dance Again.” A few ticket holders debated on social media whether to boo him during curtain calls.
This week, Boy George has used social media to respond to those denouncing him. In reply to one X user who called him “Zionist scum,” the singer replied, “Jew love is true love.”
On Friday, he said on X that friends were recommending that he “pipe down” and let the uproar blow over. “I’m afraid it’s not an option,” he said.
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