“People just stop calling you and act like you don’t know why they’re not calling,” he said.
By Shula Rosen
British pop star Boy George said threats, broken friendships and professional setbacks over his support for Israel will not stop him from performing two concerts in Tel Aviv next month, including one dedicated to the Nova festival community.
The 65-year-old Culture Club frontman told Channel 12 in an interview aired Saturday that the fallout has included harassment and the loss of personal and professional relationships.
“I’ve had threats, and I’ve had people defacing my pictures and concert posters,” George said.
Some longtime friends and colleagues stopped contacting him after he released the pro-Israel song “We Will Dance Again” in July, while planned collaborations and other projects fell through. He was also disinvited from a friend’s memorial service.
“People just stop calling you and act like you don’t know why they’re not calling,” he said.
George previously split with Tony Pontius, who had managed his record label for several years, after Pontius declined to take part in releasing the song.
George also withdrew from a planned role as King Herod in the London production of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” although his management did not publicly link that decision to the dispute surrounding the song.
“We Will Dance Again” was inspired by the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre, particularly the killing of hundreds of young people at the Nova music festival. George, who met a Nova survivor before writing it, called the song “an emotional statement rather than a political one.”
“When I wrote ‘We Will Dance Again,’ I felt like the world had really broken my heart again,” he said.
The song includes the declaration “You say genocide, I say war” and criticizes musicians who condemned Israel while overlooking the October 7 massacre.
George rejected the suggestion that supporting Israel meant disregarding Palestinians.
“I never said I didn’t care about Palestine,” he said.
His first concert is scheduled for November 4 at Tel Aviv’s Menora Mivtachim Arena. After the first concert sold out, a second show was added for November 7 and will be dedicated to the Nova festival community.
Finding musicians willing to travel to Israel has presented another obstacle.
“We’re trying to find a band right now,” George said, later adding, “I’m trying to find people who are brave enough to come.”
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