{"id":2075008,"date":"2026-08-03T12:16:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T09:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2075008"},"modified":"2026-08-03T12:16:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T09:16:13","slug":"boy-george-fires-label-manager-after-reported-rift-over-ai-generated-pro-israel-reggae-song-really-does-not-hurt-to-say-goodbye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2075008","title":{"rendered":"Boy George Fires Label Manager After Reported Rift Over AI-Generated Pro-Israel Reggae Song: \u2018Really Does Not Hurt to Say Goodbye\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\t\t\tTrending on Billboard\t\t<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tBoy George has parted ways with the longtime manager of his independent record label, BGP (Boy George Presents), after claiming that he no longer sees eye-to-eye with Tony Pontius.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tExplore\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tBoy George\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

See latest videos, charts and news<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tIn a post on X on Friday (July 31), George wrote, \u201cIn 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tAt press time a spokesperson for BGP had not returned Billboard<\/em>\u2018s request for confirmation on the reported split with Pontius.<\/p>\n

\n\tGeorge said he wanted to widely release his new pro-Israel track, \u201cWe Will Dance Again,\u201d but claimed that Pontius was \u201cunequivocal\u201d in saying \u201c\u2018I want nothing to do with this song,\u2019 and I responded, \u2018ok, we are done.’\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tThe track has already created other tumult in George\u2019s professional life. Last week the 65-year-old Culture Club singer born George Alan O\u2019Dowd announced that he would no longer be appearing as King Herod in the upcoming London revival of the musical Jesus Christ Superstar<\/em>, just days after releasing the controversial \u201cWe Will Dance Again,\u201d which George has said was created with the help of AI.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe song, which shares a title with a 2024 documentary about the deadly Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led\u00a0attack at the Nova Music festival\u00a0in Israel that sparked the devastating Israel-Gaza war, features the lyrics, \u201cYou say genocide, I say war\/ When you\u2019re attacked, that\u2019s what the army\u2019s for.\u201d It also has emotionally charged lines about the violence committed that day against the young Israelis at the festival, with George singing, \u201cYou never mention Oct. 7\/ Young girls raped against trees\/ Murdered brutally\/ For the crime of dancing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe song was released on X, Instagram and Threads, but at press time had not yet been shared on major streaming services, though it is now available on Bandcamp as well; in a video announcing the latter, George said he will be rerecording the song again himself soon.<\/p>\n

\n\tGeorge\u2019s longtime manager, Paul \u201cPK\u201d Kemlsey, announced last week that his client would be exiting the revival of Jesus Christ Superstar<\/em> at the London Palladium, saying the decision was made with \u201cwith the utmost respect for the producers, the creative team and the entire company. We are grateful for the professionalism and understanding they have shown throughout and sincerely wish everyone involved every success with the production.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tGeorge has not yet commented on the specific reason for his leave-taking from the show. While Kemlsey also did not cite a specific reason for George dropping out of the musical, he did allude to the possible distraction created by the divisive song. \u201cGeorge has never been afraid to stand by his personal convictions, and I have always respected him for that,\u201d Kemsley said. \u201cEqually, I believe it is my responsibility to make decisions that are in the best interests of my artist while also showing respect to others. In this instance, I felt it was right to step aside, allowing the production to remain the focus, while ensuring everyone involved can move forward with mutual respect and goodwill.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Monday morning (Aug. 3), George posted an undated, throwback video from his 1980s Culture Club heyday in which he sports a shirt with a Jewish star and Hebrew writing on it and proclaims that year the one in which hatred and division will go away for good. \u201cI\u2019m afraid this is not a new conversation,\u201d George captioned the clip. \u201cI grew up in the 70s and I felt it then as I feel it now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the 45-second clip, George predicts, \u201cI think this year is going to be a year for culture \u2026 I think it\u2019s going to be a big anti-racialism sort of thing in this country. It\u2019s been really racist the past few months and I think it\u2019s doing to die this summer \u2026 I think it will be outdated to hate Black people and hate Jews and all that sort of thing. For the past, well, centuries anyway, it\u2019s been the thing to hate Jewish businessmen, to hate Pakistani businessmen to hate Blacks \u2026 anything that isn\u2019t sort of English.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Billboard<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/pop\/boy-george-fires-label-manager-pontius-rift-pro-israel-song-1236307957\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/P1019TVJ-e1785757664518.jpg?w=1024″] Trending on Billboard Boy George has parted ways with the longtime manager of his independent record label, BGP (Boy George Presents), after claiming that he no longer sees eye-to-eye with Tony Pontius. Explore Boy George See latest videos, charts and news In a post on X on Friday (July 31), George wrote, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,226],"class_list":["post-2075008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-billboard-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2075008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2075008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2075008\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2075008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2075008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2075008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}