Latest news with #KarmaChameleon
Yahoo
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Boy George doesn't think queer identity politics have 'helped anyone': 'You're starting from the wrong perspective'
Boy George is opening up about his complicated feelings on queer activism. The Culture Club frontman, who is gay, has addressed why he doesn't support modern LGBTQ+ identity politics. "I don't think it's helped anyone," George told U.K. outlet The Times in a new interview, emphasizing that queer people aren't a monolith. "We're not a thing. It's like, 'This is what Black people are, this is what Jewish people are, this is what trans people are.' No!" He went on to defend his views on the matter. "Everybody is diverse because nobody is like anybody else, so you're starting from the wrong perspective," George said. "Nobody gets to choose what color eyes they have, how big their penis is, how fat their arse is." Earlier in the interview, the "Karma Chameleon" singer discussed online transphobia and how the digital world differs from reality. "Trans people are the new people to hate, but I always say: How many trans people have you met today?" George said. "There's the world on the internet, which is hideous and full of anger. Then there's the real world, which is entirely different, so in reality people have nothing to be nervous about." George faced accusations of transphobia in 2020 after tweeting, "Leave your pronouns at the door!" However, the musician has repeatedly defended the trans community in his social media feud with J.K. Rowling this year, calling the Harry Potter author "a rich, bored bully" for her transphobic views and saying she gets "fun from other people's pain." In his conversation with The Times, the musician said he believes his personal life is just a minuscule drop in the vast social-media bucket — and that sexual orientation shouldn't matter so much to people anyway. "If I'm really lucky my own sexuality takes up about three hours a month. We've all got cats to feed, families to visit, jobs to do," George said. "I said in an interview when I was 17, 'Being gay is like eating a bag of crisps. It's so not important.' I still think that now. What do you care about someone's sexuality unless you're going to have sex with them?" George also discussed how he channeled his views on queer identity into his 2002 musical, Taboo, which tells the story of his friend Leigh Bowery, legendary queer performance artist who founded London's Taboo club. "What I want to explore in the show is the odd relationship between Leigh and his wife, Nicola Bowery," the musician said of the play, for which he wrote the lyrics and played Leigh on stage. "Long before nonbinary, here's a gay guy who married a straight woman, and there was real tenderness and love between them. Yes, part of the reason he married Nicola was to piss everyone off, but I do think he really loved her."George, who is trying to revive Taboo, added that Bowery wouldn't want to box himself into pre-existing notions of queer identity or expression. "Someone said the other day, 'Leigh Bowery was the blueprint for gay identity,'" he recalled to The Times. "He would have hated that. Hated it!" Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
Yahoo
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Boy George puzzled by interest in his sexuality
Boy George doesn't understand why people are so interested in his sexuality. The Culture Club frontman's sexuality was the subject of much curiosity when he first found fame during the 1980s but he is baffled as to why others are so fixated on it. In an interview with The Times newspaper, George said: "If I'm really lucky my own sexuality takes up about three hours a month. We've all got cats to feed, families to visit, jobs to do. "I said in an interview when I was 17, 'Being gay is like eating a bag of crisps. It's so not important.' I still think that now. What do you care about someone's sexuality unless you're going to have sex with them?" The Karma Chameleon hitmaker doesn't believe that LGBTQ+ identity politics are particularly helpful. George, 64, - who revealed he was gay in his 1995 autobiography Take It Like a Man - explained: "I don't think it's helped anyone. We're not a thing. It's like, 'This is what black people are, this is what Jewish people are, this is what trans people are.' "No! Everybody is diverse because nobody is like anybody else, so you're starting from the wrong perspective. Nobody gets to choose what colour eyes they have, how big their penis is, how fat their a*** is." The singer, whose real name is George O'Dowd, had a turbulent relationship with former Culture Club drummer Jon Moss - who sued the band for loss of earnings in a case that was settled out of court in 2023 for a reported £1.75 million - during the 1980s and has revealed that he has penned a song called Dirty Little Limited Company about his ex-lover on his latest album. George said: "I say in the song, 'How come you don't fight for your rock 'n' roll?' Jon wants to fight for his royalties, but not the thing that gave him those royalties. "Jon only wants to do it on his terms. I'm a Gemini. I trust everyone and think everyone understands me. When I started the band I split everything four ways, but I don't believe I was treated with the respect I gave to everyone else, especially Jon." George revealed that he doesn't hold any ill will towards Jon despite the acrimonious history between the pair. He said: "I don't feel anything bad about Jon. That might annoy him even more, actually."
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'80s Music Legend, 64, Looks Happy and Svelte in Rare Sighting
'80s Music Legend, 64, Looks Happy and Svelte in Rare Sighting originally appeared on Parade. Boy George is looking great these days! The legendary Culture Club frontman attended the press night after party for "This Bitter Earth" at The London EDITION on Tuesday in London, and he looked better than ever. Sporting a chic blue hat, the beloved singer wore a black suit and red shades. He looked happy, svelte, and healthy. We love to see it! For someone who has been through some serious ups and downs in the music industry, it's great to see the music legend thrive. 🎬 SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox 🎬 In the new documentary, Boy George & Culture Club, the band opens up about their rise to superstardom, including how the song "Karma Chameleon" ultimately was so successful that it became part of their downfall. It was a bit unlike the other songs on their biggest album, 1983's Colour by Numbers. 'We could have put out a fart in a bottle in [1983], it would've been No. 1, and that was it,' guitarist Roy Hay, 63, told PEOPLE at the doc's premiere. 'No, I'm kidding. Here's the thing: It's become a very iconic song, and when we close our concerts with it, and having people singing it back, it's amazing. But if you put it up against the rest of our catalog, it doesn't stand up as a song. But it's a great record.''80s Music Legend, 64, Looks Happy and Svelte in Rare Sighting first appeared on Parade on Jun 25, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jun 25, 2025, where it first appeared.
Sky News AU
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Sky News AU
‘There are many differences between us, George': J.K. Rowling shuts down Boy George in savage online exchange over trans rights
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has shut down Boy George in a savage online exchange over transgender rights as the 'Karma Chameleon' singer's history of violent assault resurfaces. Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has shut down Boy George in a savage online exchange over transgender rights as the pop star's history of violent assault resurfaced. The 'Karma Chameleon' singer initially reposted Rowling's response to another account which claimed the author and her 'TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist) army' had taken the 'freedom to live without constant persecution' from trans people. Boy George, 64, added to the pile on of the billionaire writer and said trans people have also had their 'right to be left alone by a rich bored bully' taken away. Rowling, 59, punched out a more than 300-word response addressing Boy George's 11-word sledge. 'There are many differences between us, George,' Rowling wrote. The Harry Potter author outlined how she was a woman and Boy George was a man, that he had been wealthy and famous since he was in his early 20s, while she had not become well known until she was more than a decade older. Rowling then pointed out how she had never been given 15 months for 'handcuffing a man to a wall and beating him with a chain', referring to his 2007 assault of Audun Carlsen, a Norwegian model and male escort. 'For more than half my life I was a regular anonymous person. Some of those years were spent in poverty. That's why I understand the importance of single-sex spaces for women who're reliant on state-funded services,' Rowling wrote. 'That's why I understand why mixed public changing rooms are a problem for women. That's why I have a problem with men 'identifying' into women's rape crisis centres, domestic abuse and homeless shelters that are supposed to be single-sex.' — J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 15, 2025 Rowling continued her onslaught against the 64-year-old musician while simultaneously explaining her stance on freedom of expression. 'My life has taught me exactly how vulnerable women are when they don't have the money/influence I have now. You yourself have been convicted of violent assault. The overwhelming number of people who commit crimes of violence are male, just like you,' Rowling said. 'That's why I don't want to see men identifying into women's prison cells or any of the spaces mentioned above. Not all men are violent or predatory, but enough are to make safeguarding necessary.' Rowling signed off by writing about her belief in freedom of speech before hitting out at Boy George as being 'tediously conformist'. 'As we both know, the safe, fashionable thing in the arts world right now is to do exactly what you're doing: parrot TWAW (Trans Women Are Women) and sneer at the unenlightened plebs who think sex is important and matters,' she wrote. 'For a man who was once all about non-conformity, George, you couldn't have become more predictably or more tediously conformist.' In 2009, Boy George, whose name Is George O'Dowd, was sentenced to 15 months for falsely imprisoning a male escort and beating him with a metal chain after handcuffing him to a wall. He was given early release after four months on 11 May 2009. Rowling has previously mocked the phrase "people who menstruate", said women's rights and "lived reality" would be "erased" if "sex isn't real", and called a list of trans women "men, every last one of them".
USA Today
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
'Karma Chameleon' is Culture Club's biggest hit. So why don't band members like it?
'Karma Chameleon' is Culture Club's biggest hit. So why don't band members like it? Show Caption Hide Caption Elton John unable to see London musical due to vision loss Singer Elton John told a London crowd he could not see The Devil Wears Prada show due to his recent vision loss. "Karma Chameleon" may be Culture Club's catchiest song, but it's still a sore spot for some band members. In a new documentary, "Boy George & Culture Club," which premiered at the New York Tribeca Film Festival earlier this month, members of the British supergroup lamented the mainstream quality of the song – a harsh departure from their more new wave sound. "We could have put out a fart in a bottle in (1983), it would've been No. 1, and that was it," guitarist Roy Hay, 63, told People of the song at the documentary's premiere. Culture Club film delves into history filled with drama, Boy George, love and drugs "No, I'm kidding," he added. "Here's the thing: It's become a very iconic song, and when we close our concerts with it, and having people singing it back, it's amazing. But if you put it up against the rest of our catalog, it doesn't stand up as a song. But it's a great record." The track, a pure uptempo pop tune more symptomatic of the '80s dance craze, is now a karaoke staple, playing in grocery store aisles and at Bat Mitzvahs, a commercial winfall and a critical shortcoming for a band more focused on the post-punk scene. Boy George on 'Life,' sobriety and why he never gets sick of playing Culture Club hits Boy George, the lead singer and most famed Culture Club alum, had written the song and vouched for its quality despite doubts from the rest of the band. "I knew that if we didn't do it, it would've upset George," bassist Mikey Craig told People. "So I said to Roy, 'We've got to do it.' And we made a bet that it was going to be a No. 1, and Roy lost." "I think we lost a lot of credibility with 'Karma Chameleon,'" Hay told USA TODAY at the premiere. "But it's what we're remembered for." George was notably absent from the film's premiere, as was drummer Jon Moss. Moss and George's complicated romantic relationship helped contribute to the band's downfall, and in 2023, Moss won $2.3 million in a lawsuit against the group, alleging that he was expelled before a 2018 tour. From producer Alison Ellwood, whose recent deep dives into the Laurel Canyon scene and the careers of Cyndi Lauper and The Go-Go's have gained her acclaim, follows Culture Club as they catapulted to stratospheric success in the early '80s with a distinctive combination of pop, reggae and blue-eyed soul hits. It will be available to stream on Netflix later this year. Contributing: Melissa Ruggieri, USA TODAY
