UK singer Boy George pulls out of London musical after pro-Israel song backlash
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UK singer Boy George pulls out of London musical after pro-Israel song backlash

Economy World


British singer Boy George has pulled out of a West End production of the musical Jesus Christ Superstar after facing a backlash for releasing a pro-Israel song, We Will Dance Again.

The 65-year-old musician “will no longer be appearing in Jesus Christ Superstar at the London Palladium”, his manager Paul Kemsley said on social media.

The singer, whose real name is George Alan O’Dowd, rose to fame in the 1980s as the flamboyant singer of the pop band Culture Club.

This week he released a song supporting Israel and its war in Gaza, with lyrics including “you say genocide, I say war” and “when you’re attacked, that’s what the army’s for”.

Israeli soldiers in December 2023 walk among photos of people taken captive or killed by Hamas militants during a music festival on October 7 that year, at the site where the massacre took place. Photo: AFP
Israeli soldiers in December 2023 walk among photos of people taken captive or killed by Hamas militants during a music festival on October 7 that year, at the site where the massacre took place. Photo: AFP

The title is a phrase used to express solidarity after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on a music festival and other Israeli communities in Israel in which 1,221 people were killed, according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) tally based on official data.