BOY George has confirmed he has “parted company” with his record label manager, who said he unequivocally wanted nothing to do with the singer's pro-Israel song.
The musician has faced fierce backlash after he released his new track We Will Dance Again which refutes the idea that a genocide is being carried out in Gaza.
The opening line from the track reads: “You say genocide, I said war, when you're attacked, that's what the army is for”.
The former Culture Club frontman goes on to defend Israel’s genocide as he sings: “Does it get ugly? You bet it does, when I know you wanna kill every last one of us.” The lyrics refer to Jewish people living in Israel.
On Friday, the 65-year-old’s manager, Paul Kemsley, released a statement saying he has pulled George from a scheduled run in Andrew Llyod Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar.
The singer was set to play King Herod – a one-song cameo role that’s being rotated – from August 3 to 15.
Following Boy George being dropped from the West End performance days before he was set to take the stage, the singer has confirmed that he has also “parted company” with the man who ran his record label BGP, Tony Pontius, calling him “gutless”.
In a statement online, Boy George said: “In Buddhism we understand that every action comes with a consequence.
“Due to my decision to stand up for my Jewish friends I am losing a few people from my life.
“Today I parted company with Tony Pontius who has run my record label BGP for a number of years.
“I wanted to release 'We Will Dance Again' but he was unequivocal and said 'I want nothing to do with this song' and I responded 'ok, we are done'.
“When someone is gutless it really does not hurt to say goodbye. My faith in humanity will not diminish and the truth will always win.”
He added: “I will release it!”
Throughout Boy George’s song, he criticises other musicians who have voiced support for Palestine – such as Kneecap, Stormzy and Clairo – describing them as “musicians holding flags, mouthing like sheep”.
The singer then goes on to reference the October 7 attacks in 2023 at the Nova music festival, during which 344 civilians and 34 security personnel were killed and 44 people taken hostage by Hamas.
His lyrics read: “You never mentioned October 7. Young girls raped against trees, murdered brutally, for the crime of dancing.”
He continues: “You condemned the Jews with selective memory.”
Israel's genocidal assault in Gaza has killed more than 73,000 civilians and displaced close to 2 million Palestinians from their homes.
Two UN investigations have found that Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza and the International Criminal Court has also issued arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence secretary Yoav Gallant.
The warrants are for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, which the court said have been committed from at least October 8, 2023 until at least May 20, 2024.
The ICC said it had found that the alleged crimes against humanity were part of a “widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza”.
