Defiant Boy George a hit in Israel
‘I stand with the Jews’ — because I’m ‘a human’
Since the release of his song, “We Will Dance Again,” friends stopped calling.
Boy George, the ’80s pop icon, who came out as an outspoken supporter of Israel, sold out one Tel Aviv show and has added another.
Best known for his 1983 hit “Karma Chameleon,” performed with his band, Culture Club, he is most identified with the LGBT+ community, receiving a lifetime achievement award at the British LGBT Awards in May, two months before he released this pro-Israel song:
You never mention October 7
Young girls raped against trees
Murdered brutally
For the crime of dancing
You condemn the Jews, with selective memory
Musicians holding flags, mouthing like sheep
Propaganda fueled by the Internet feels so weak.
But trust me, we will dancе again
We will dance again
We will dancе again
And there will be no war
But if you’re ever confused
I stand with the Jews
I don’t feel brave, I just need to behave like a human.
Boy George, whose real name is George O’Dowd and who was raised in a working-class Irish Catholic family, tsaid that he had many Jewish friends growing up in London.
“I’ve been to a lot of Shabbat dinners and I’ve done every possible Jewish holiday for 40 years,” he said, revealing that his signature hats were inspired by Chassidic Jews he saw as a boy. “I used to see the Chassidic Jews and I thought they looked stunning, their clothes and their hats.
Since the release of his song, Boy George said friends stopped calling, concerts and collaborations were canceled, and an invitation to a friend’s memorial was withdrawn.
He was inspired to write the song after meeting May Hayat, 33, a survivor of the Supernova festival. Though surrounded by terrorists armed with knives, she was spared when they noticed a scar on her arm from a burn she suffered as a child.
“According to their beliefs, a scar like this means a strong woman. If something happened to her because of them, the 72 virgins they are promised will not come looking for them in heaven,” she told the Daily Mail in May. —JNS
