British pop icon Boy George has withdrawn from a London production of “Jesus Christ Superstar” days after releasing a pro-Israel song that drew sharp criticism online.
The 65-year-old Culture Club frontman was scheduled to play King Herod in the West End revival at the London Palladium from Aug. 3-15, in a rotating cameo role that has also featured Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Simon Russell Beale and Richard Armitage. His manager, Paul Kemsley, announced the exit Thursday, saying he had decided that Boy George would no longer appear in the production, according to the Times of Israel.
Mr. Kemsley did not explicitly cite the controversy as the reason for the withdrawal, but appeared to allude to it, saying George has always stood by his convictions and that stepping aside would keep the focus on the production, the outlet reported.
The decision followed the release of “We Will Dance Again,” an AI-assisted song in which Boy George pushed back on genocide accusations against Israel over its military campaign in Gaza, framed the country’s response as self-defense, and criticized fellow musicians for what he characterized as reflexively pro-Palestinian activism, according to Rolling Stone. The title borrows a phrase adopted by survivors of the Nova music festival massacre, where roughly 378 people were killed and dozens taken hostage during Hamas’s broader Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, which killed about 1,200 people and saw more than 250 taken hostage overall.
Boy George said on Instagram Threads that he made the track using artificial intelligence, calling it “AI for good.”
The song was met with a mixed reaction, drawing gratitude from supporters of Israel, while others, including a former musical collaborator, accused the singer of minimizing the toll of the war in Gaza.
This is not the first time the singer has voiced support for Israel. In 2017, he headlined a concert in Tel Aviv that critics likened to performing in apartheid-era South Africa — a comparison he rejected at the time, saying Israel held a special place for him.
Boy George had not addressed his exit from the musical directly as of Thursday, though he wrote cryptically on X that it didn’t matter what he or others thought about the matter.
“Jesus Christ Superstar” opens Friday and runs through Sept. 5 at the London Palladium.
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