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So when he waded into the feverish debate over the Israel-Hamas conflict with a song beginning "You say genocide, I say war," he knew it might attract the ire of those waging a propaganda war against the Jewish state.
He wrote the song after visiting , at the Nova music festival. He was taken around the exhibition by survivor May Hayat, who witnessed the murder of her best friend. He told May, as he hugged her, that he would write a song about what he had seen, what he believed.
Boy George's song, We Will Dance Again, was inspired by a visit to the London exhibition on the October 7 massacre at the Nova Music Festival - George Pimentel
Within days, he hadn't just written the song; he'd also recorded a version with the help of AI. If the title, We Will Dance Again, was ambiguous, the chorus – "But if you're ever confused / I stand with the Jews" – was less so.
When he posted it on his social media channels on July 26 with the Hebrew word "shalom" ("peace"), the backlash was instant – and vicious.
"Nazi", "sociopath" and "genocidal freak" were some of the printable responses. Martyn Ware, of Human League and Heaven 17, denounced George, despite being an "old friend", for producing what he described as an "overtly pro-genocide, anti-Palestinian piece of musical propaganda".
"I woke up to the song after he'd posted it," says Paul Kemsley, George's manager, who is Jewish. "Even though, to a certain extent, I'm the perfect manager to handle this because I'm a proud Jew, it was a shock. The proverbial s--- had already hit the fan when I woke up because I live in LA."
For George, the first indication that his stance had hit his personal life came when he was uninvited from a memorial service he was due to attend for a friend who died earlier this year. That, George explained to Israeli TV's Channel 12 with some understatement, "was kind of weird". Other invitations simply didn't materialise. "Suddenly the calls stopped," he said.
Amid rumours that the cast of Jesus Christ Superstar, in which he was due to make an appearance, were refusing to work with him, and with threats being made to the theatre, Kemsley withdrew him from the London show, saying: "I believe it is my responsibility to make decisions that are in the best interests of my artist while also showing respect to others."
Later that day, George "parted company" with Tony Pontius, the manager of his label, BGP (Boy George Presents). Pontius had, according to George, been "unequivocal", saying "I want nothing to do with this song". "OK, we are done," George replied. He denounced Pontius on X as "gutless" and said he was having to lose "a few people from my life" as a result of his decision to stand up for his "Jewish friends".
Meanwhile, Kemsley says, a performance for a TV show in Australia "suddenly disappeared".
Manager Paul Kemsley tells The Telegraph that he is 'very proud' of Boy George - Instagram
Most concerning, George claimed a sound engineer deliberately distorted the sound of a concert he played in Germany in August. After asking for the sound to be changed and being ignored, he walked off the stage. "The sound was so bad I risked damaging my ear," he said. He has revealed that one of the concert promoters is suing him, but he has vowed to contest the claim, saying: "I believe in my heart that this show was sabotaged deliberately because I released We Will Dance Again."
The more the singer tried to explain his position, the more the anger swirled around him. Friends say it has left him confused and upset, but also defiant. "I don't think he knew exactly what would happen to him," says one Jewish friend of the star, who has known him since they were teenagers. "But I think even if people had tried to tell him, it wouldn't have stopped him."
Speaking to Channel 12 at the weekend, a defiant George said he believed he was being boycotted because of the popularity of the genocide narrative among the young. "The thing about me, I love a cancellation. As you get older, people that bring nothing to your life are not hard to let go of. Some of those people do not care about anything: their political views are Dolce and Gabbana. So suddenly, to have a position on something that I know they don't care about makes me so angry.
"A lot of the people I know work with Gen Z people, like DJs, promoters. They live in that world with young people, and they need it – it's like vampire blood. They need that blood to survive." Of the young people themselves, he added: "F---ing Gen Z; let them hate me."
A video message from George is played during a May 2026 protest against anti-Semitism in London - Alamy/Paul Smyth
But perhaps the pain behind his bravado was made clear in a social media post made by his brother Kevin on Facebook, who said: "Those who have stabbed both of us in the back could have chosen to say nothing and not get involved but they chose to jump on the bandwagon and turn a peace song into a genocide denial. And some of them have done so in the most cowardly and snide manner. All I'm going to say is WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND."
George, whose history as a former drug addict who was sentenced in 2009 to prison for handcuffing a male escort to a bed is now being dredged up by his detractors, has become a surprising hero for the Jewish people – a rare voice daring to speak up against the genocide libel. But it was with Jews that he first found himself truly accepted.
Born George O'Dowd to a family of Irish descent in Eltham, south-east London, he met club promoter Philip Sallon when he was a teenager and confused about his sexuality. Sallon was a kingpin in the clubbing world and worked in the Royal Opera House costume department. He was famous for his outrageous dress sense and he took the young singer under his wing with George describing Sallon as a "freak mentor".
'He would be round my house and he even came to synagogue with me,' says Philip Sallon (right) of his relationship with George during George's teenage years - FilmMagic/Bruce Glikas
Sallon was unashamedly gay and Jewish. George, whose home life had been scarred by an abusive father, found a sort of home from home with Sallon and his parents, who lived an unassuming suburban life in Dollis Hill, north London, but accepted their eccentric son and his friends.
With them, he first experienced Friday night dinners and Jewish festivals. "He would be round my house and he even came to synagogue with me," Sallon, who fell out with George some years ago, tells The Telegraph. "I am proud of what he is doing as I am a total Zionist even if we aren't friends anymore. On one of his social media posts, he said he wants to take me with him to Tel Aviv – but he will have to call me first."
From early in his career, George was wearing stars of David and the traditional dress of ultra-Orthodox Jews even inspired some of his hat collection. Kemsley points out that "he was wearing Hebrew on his T-shirt in the Do You Really Want to Hurt Me video in 1982".
Another Jewish friend who met the singer in that era was Jon Moss, who became the Culture Club drummer and the man George regards as his first love. As with Sallon, the pair are no longer friends after Moss sued George and the other Culture Club members after he was removed from the band.
Meanwhile, many credit Kemsley – a businessman whose ex-wife Dorit is in The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills – with a significant role in helping to turn George's life around after his spell in prison.
George lives in north London and was in Golders Green when two Jewish men were stabbed in the area in April. Speaking of his tears as he felt the "panic in the air", he said: "We need to make our Jewish community know we support them." Instead, trolls attacked him on social media.
A few days later, he was asked about his pro-Jewish stance while on Irish TV's Late Late Show by host Patrick Kielty, who brought up the "backdrop of that obviously is the horrors in Gaza and this is a complex thing". George, undeterred, told him: "Well, you don't blame a whole nation for what's going on in America or in Russia or anywhere else."
Credit: The Late Late Show / RTE
George, who was performing for San Marino in the Eurovision contest in May, then made sure to hug the Israeli contestant Noam Bettan, who had faced a horrendous global response, including numerous calls for him to be excluded from the competition.
He's carried on in the same vein. We Will Dance Again is due to be formally released as a single on Friday, meaning it will become available on services such as Spotify and Apple Music.
Now he's planning a trip to Israel to perform in a few weeks' time, one of the first major international stars to appear there since October 7. The first night, on November 4 in Tel Aviv, has already sold out, and tickets for a newly announced second show, on November 7, are selling fast. He's also planning a tour in the UK at the end of this year.
At the moment, George is still struggling to find British musicians willing to play with him, but he says the show will go on. "It has been interesting trying to find people that are brave enough to come. But it's cool. I can do it on my own like Ed Sheeran if I have to," he said.
"The people on the other side, they are very noisy; they have won this media narrative. But I just know Jewish people, and I know they are good people and they just want to live."
Kemsley adds: "He has always been an agitator, innovator, unapologetic. And this is a continuation of that; saying something he believes and expressing it through his artistry. I am very proud of him."
‘Let them hate me’: Why Boy George refuses to be cancelled for a pro-Jewish song
Boy George doesn't mind the odd scrap. Some former friends might even say he rather enjoys them. Whether it's , Madonna, George Michael or his former bandmate and lover Jon Moss, the list of those scratched by George's unsheathed talons is long.So when he waded into the feverish debate over the Israel-Hamas conflict with a song beginning "You say genocide, I say war," he knew it might attract the ire of those waging a propaganda war against the Jewish state.
He wrote the song after visiting , at the Nova music festival. He was taken around the exhibition by survivor May Hayat, who witnessed the murder of her best friend. He told May, as he hugged her, that he would write a song about what he had seen, what he believed.
Boy George's song, We Will Dance Again, was inspired by a visit to the London exhibition on the October 7 massacre at the Nova Music Festival - George Pimentel
Within days, he hadn't just written the song; he'd also recorded a version with the help of AI. If the title, We Will Dance Again, was ambiguous, the chorus – "But if you're ever confused / I stand with the Jews" – was less so.
When he posted it on his social media channels on July 26 with the Hebrew word "shalom" ("peace"), the backlash was instant – and vicious.
"Nazi", "sociopath" and "genocidal freak" were some of the printable responses. Martyn Ware, of Human League and Heaven 17, denounced George, despite being an "old friend", for producing what he described as an "overtly pro-genocide, anti-Palestinian piece of musical propaganda".
"I woke up to the song after he'd posted it," says Paul Kemsley, George's manager, who is Jewish. "Even though, to a certain extent, I'm the perfect manager to handle this because I'm a proud Jew, it was a shock. The proverbial s--- had already hit the fan when I woke up because I live in LA."
For George, the first indication that his stance had hit his personal life came when he was uninvited from a memorial service he was due to attend for a friend who died earlier this year. That, George explained to Israeli TV's Channel 12 with some understatement, "was kind of weird". Other invitations simply didn't materialise. "Suddenly the calls stopped," he said.
Amid rumours that the cast of Jesus Christ Superstar, in which he was due to make an appearance, were refusing to work with him, and with threats being made to the theatre, Kemsley withdrew him from the London show, saying: "I believe it is my responsibility to make decisions that are in the best interests of my artist while also showing respect to others."
Later that day, George "parted company" with Tony Pontius, the manager of his label, BGP (Boy George Presents). Pontius had, according to George, been "unequivocal", saying "I want nothing to do with this song". "OK, we are done," George replied. He denounced Pontius on X as "gutless" and said he was having to lose "a few people from my life" as a result of his decision to stand up for his "Jewish friends".
Meanwhile, Kemsley says, a performance for a TV show in Australia "suddenly disappeared".
Manager Paul Kemsley tells The Telegraph that he is 'very proud' of Boy George - Instagram
Most concerning, George claimed a sound engineer deliberately distorted the sound of a concert he played in Germany in August. After asking for the sound to be changed and being ignored, he walked off the stage. "The sound was so bad I risked damaging my ear," he said. He has revealed that one of the concert promoters is suing him, but he has vowed to contest the claim, saying: "I believe in my heart that this show was sabotaged deliberately because I released We Will Dance Again."
The more the singer tried to explain his position, the more the anger swirled around him. Friends say it has left him confused and upset, but also defiant. "I don't think he knew exactly what would happen to him," says one Jewish friend of the star, who has known him since they were teenagers. "But I think even if people had tried to tell him, it wouldn't have stopped him."
Speaking to Channel 12 at the weekend, a defiant George said he believed he was being boycotted because of the popularity of the genocide narrative among the young. "The thing about me, I love a cancellation. As you get older, people that bring nothing to your life are not hard to let go of. Some of those people do not care about anything: their political views are Dolce and Gabbana. So suddenly, to have a position on something that I know they don't care about makes me so angry.
"A lot of the people I know work with Gen Z people, like DJs, promoters. They live in that world with young people, and they need it – it's like vampire blood. They need that blood to survive." Of the young people themselves, he added: "F---ing Gen Z; let them hate me."
A video message from George is played during a May 2026 protest against anti-Semitism in London - Alamy/Paul Smyth
But perhaps the pain behind his bravado was made clear in a social media post made by his brother Kevin on Facebook, who said: "Those who have stabbed both of us in the back could have chosen to say nothing and not get involved but they chose to jump on the bandwagon and turn a peace song into a genocide denial. And some of them have done so in the most cowardly and snide manner. All I'm going to say is WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND."
George, whose history as a former drug addict who was sentenced in 2009 to prison for handcuffing a male escort to a bed is now being dredged up by his detractors, has become a surprising hero for the Jewish people – a rare voice daring to speak up against the genocide libel. But it was with Jews that he first found himself truly accepted.
Born George O'Dowd to a family of Irish descent in Eltham, south-east London, he met club promoter Philip Sallon when he was a teenager and confused about his sexuality. Sallon was a kingpin in the clubbing world and worked in the Royal Opera House costume department. He was famous for his outrageous dress sense and he took the young singer under his wing with George describing Sallon as a "freak mentor".
'He would be round my house and he even came to synagogue with me,' says Philip Sallon (right) of his relationship with George during George's teenage years - FilmMagic/Bruce Glikas
Sallon was unashamedly gay and Jewish. George, whose home life had been scarred by an abusive father, found a sort of home from home with Sallon and his parents, who lived an unassuming suburban life in Dollis Hill, north London, but accepted their eccentric son and his friends.
With them, he first experienced Friday night dinners and Jewish festivals. "He would be round my house and he even came to synagogue with me," Sallon, who fell out with George some years ago, tells The Telegraph. "I am proud of what he is doing as I am a total Zionist even if we aren't friends anymore. On one of his social media posts, he said he wants to take me with him to Tel Aviv – but he will have to call me first."
From early in his career, George was wearing stars of David and the traditional dress of ultra-Orthodox Jews even inspired some of his hat collection. Kemsley points out that "he was wearing Hebrew on his T-shirt in the Do You Really Want to Hurt Me video in 1982".
Another Jewish friend who met the singer in that era was Jon Moss, who became the Culture Club drummer and the man George regards as his first love. As with Sallon, the pair are no longer friends after Moss sued George and the other Culture Club members after he was removed from the band.
Meanwhile, many credit Kemsley – a businessman whose ex-wife Dorit is in The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills – with a significant role in helping to turn George's life around after his spell in prison.
George lives in north London and was in Golders Green when two Jewish men were stabbed in the area in April. Speaking of his tears as he felt the "panic in the air", he said: "We need to make our Jewish community know we support them." Instead, trolls attacked him on social media.
A few days later, he was asked about his pro-Jewish stance while on Irish TV's Late Late Show by host Patrick Kielty, who brought up the "backdrop of that obviously is the horrors in Gaza and this is a complex thing". George, undeterred, told him: "Well, you don't blame a whole nation for what's going on in America or in Russia or anywhere else."
Credit: The Late Late Show / RTE
George, who was performing for San Marino in the Eurovision contest in May, then made sure to hug the Israeli contestant Noam Bettan, who had faced a horrendous global response, including numerous calls for him to be excluded from the competition.
He's carried on in the same vein. We Will Dance Again is due to be formally released as a single on Friday, meaning it will become available on services such as Spotify and Apple Music.
Now he's planning a trip to Israel to perform in a few weeks' time, one of the first major international stars to appear there since October 7. The first night, on November 4 in Tel Aviv, has already sold out, and tickets for a newly announced second show, on November 7, are selling fast. He's also planning a tour in the UK at the end of this year.
At the moment, George is still struggling to find British musicians willing to play with him, but he says the show will go on. "It has been interesting trying to find people that are brave enough to come. But it's cool. I can do it on my own like Ed Sheeran if I have to," he said.
"The people on the other side, they are very noisy; they have won this media narrative. But I just know Jewish people, and I know they are good people and they just want to live."
Kemsley adds: "He has always been an agitator, innovator, unapologetic. And this is a continuation of that; saying something he believes and expressing it through his artistry. I am very proud of him."
