He said: “In terms of someone like Macklemore, he said, ‘my Jewish brothers and sisters’, he’s gone on now to prove that that actually isn’t his agenda. And it’s much more black and white. So, when people say they’re nuanced, they have to really be balanced about it.”
The Karma Chameleon singer also spoke about his youth in London and how he wanted to use music to tackle prejudice.
“I’ve grown up with a lot of prejudice and racism. I grew up in southeast London. I know that it’s there in people’s DNA. Sometimes they can’t help themselves. But music is the one place where you have this opportunity to transform all people from what they’re frightened of.”
Boy George is preparing to host two Tel Aviv concerts this week. Produced by Live Nation Israel, he will perform at the Menora Mivtachim Arena.
The singer is also hoping to sell tickets to upcoming shows back in Britain. But the Culture Club star has faced a polarised reaction to his support for Israel amid its ongoing war with Hamas and other Iran-backed terror groups.
“In Canada three months ago, we had a massive, massive stadium show. There was a bit of stuff online saying some people wanted tickets back. There was a bit of protesting outside, but luckily most people were there and all the ones that weren’t there were replaced by Jewish people with flags.
“I don’t believe that my fans are horrible people. I think if anyone has followed me since 1982, doesn’t understand why I called my band Culture Club. Why I was wearing ‘Tarbut Aguda’ [Hebrew for ‘culture association’] on my t-shirt. Why I was talking about multiculturalism from the age of, like 15, and they weren’t really paying attention, you know?
“And my whole thing has always been about uniting every single type of person and anyone who comes when we go out on stage, I always say to the audience, ‘this is what community looks like’, because community doesn’t have a fence around it.
“And that’s one of the downsides of the whole pronoun generation is the fact that people think they can take any group of people based on the label you’ve given them and say, ‘this is what they all believe’, and this is where it gets very dangerous, because you can start putting people in categories they’ve got nothing to do with, you know, gays for Palestine. It’s just like, hello, have you seen yourself? Get a mirror.”
While he slammed those who were shutting down discussions, Boy George said that he had found hope in the interactions he had in the real world.