"We Will Dance Again": Boy George in the midst of a storm after a song about October 7th

In a song released online at the end of July, the singer calls for the Israeli victims of the Hamas attack not to be forgotten, rejects the term "genocide" perpetrated against the Palestinians, and condemns anti-Semitism. He has since been at the center of a fierce controversy.

"We Will Dance Again": Boy George in the midst of a storm after a song about October 7th

Boy George during the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2026, at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria, on May 12, 2026.

And now, Boy George… Since July 26, the former Culture Club frontman has been at the center of a social media controversy, which has also led to his excommunication from some of his (former) showbiz friends. His cardinal sin? Composing, writing, singing, and posting a song titled “We Will Dance Again” on his X and Instagram accounts, accompanied only by the hashtag #shalom (Hebrew for “peace”).

The melancholic reggae-pop song is not available on any mainstream streaming platform; for now, it circulates only through the artist's social media. The title incorporates the slogan that became an emblem of resilience after October 7, 2023, the day Hamas attacked the Nova music festival in the Negev desert in southern Israel, near Kibbutz Re'im. As a reminder, 378 festival-goers were killed that day (including 344 civilians) in a larger attack that left 1,200 dead, not to mention the 250 hostages taken by terrorists from Gaza.

The singer's anguish in the face of anti-Semitism

The lyrics of "We Will Dance Again," which sparked outrage among some internet users, leave no room for ambiguity about the artist's stance. They open with: "You say genocide, I say war / When you're attacked, that's what the army's for." Later, the chorus hammers home: "If you're ever confused, I stand with the Jews / I don't feel brave, I just need to behave like a human."

These lyrics primarily reflect the singer's anguish in the face of the explosion of anti-Semitism in the West since October 7th. From the United Kingdom to the United States, via Canada, the Netherlands, Austria, Germany, and Australia, anti-Semitic acts have seen triple-digit growth rates since 2023.

In France alone, according to figures from the Ministry of the Interior, 1,320 reported acts were recorded in 2025, compared to 436 in 2022, 1,676 in 2023 and 1,570 in 2024. Anti-Semitic acts represented 53% of anti-religious acts in 2025 even though Jews represent less than 1% of the French population.

Targeted artists

Some artists identified as Jewish and/or suspected of supporting the Israeli government are now being targeted and harassed by pro-Palestinian activists with the support of the far left, with LFI leading the way in France.

On July 18th, DJ Barbara Butch was forced to cut short her concert in Grenoble after just twenty minutes, harassed and assaulted by a handful of troublemakers, following a call to boycott the Jewish artist launched by the Isère branch of La France Insoumise (LFI). Barbara Butch's mistake had been signing the Yadan bill (since withdrawn) intended to "combat new forms of anti-Semitism."