Courting headlines, controversial for the sake of it? Or a lone act of courageous defiance at the expense of his own career?What you think of Boy George’s decision to release a song in support of Israel’s war in Gaza may depend on whether you see him as a veteran star who now has national treasure status, or an attention-seeking drag act who can bear anything except being ignored.Either way, the 65-year-old Culture Club singer, best-known for his early 1980s hits Karma Chameleon and Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?, has highlighted a depressing truth about the 21st-century music industry.All rebellion must follow strict rules. Everyone must sing from the approved song sheet. Individual opinions are not merely discouraged – they will be repressed ruthlessly.A movement that began with protest marches, civil rights, druggy idealism and the inspiring belief that music unites the world is now dominated by the intolerant Left. Any artist who deviates from the approved script will be shamed and bullied into silence.Boy George is neither Israeli nor Palestinian – he’s London Irish, real name George Alan O’Dowd. He’s not Jewish or Muslim either, but a Buddhist who converted from Catholicism more than a decade ago.He has spoken out against anti-Semitism previously. Following the knife attack in April that targeted Jews outside a synagogue in Golders Green, London, in which two people were seriously injured, he said: ‘We need to make our Jewish community know we support them.’ Boy George is not Israeli, Palestinian, Jewish or Muslim – but the outspoken singer has been vocal in calling out anti-Semitism and just released a song in support of Israel’s war in Gaza What he thinks about the horrors in Gaza, which began with the mass slaughter of 1,200 Jewish people and the seizing of 251 hostages by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, is surely up to him. Not according to the music police, it isn’t.Last Monday, George released a reggae number called We Will Dance Again, which opens with the lines: ‘You say genocide, I say war/ When you’re attacked, that’s what the army’s for.’The Left asserts without any room for discussion that, since 2023, Israel has been committing genocide – not defending itself against an existential threat. Any attempt to argue differently will be met with instant condemnation and cancellation.And so it has proved for George.Days after the song became available online through the DIY music platform Bandcamp, his manager Paul Kemsley announced the star ‘will no longer be appearing in Jesus Christ Superstar at the London Palladium’. George was one of five performers sharing the role of King Herod in the revival of the Lloyd Webber musical – along with Julian Clary, Richard Armitage and others – with Sam Ryder as Jesus.It is not clear whether the producers asked George to pull out, other actors refused to work with him, or his withdrawal was to ensure the production did not become the target of hate mobs – or, indeed, it was down to a combination of all three.Kemsley said it was done ‘in the best interests of my artist while also showing respect to others’. Boy George’s record label, BGP, refused to release the track commercially. The singer called the decision ‘gutless’ and split from the label’s manager.He has made it clear that he wasn’t celebrating war: ‘The suggestion that I feel no compassion for Palestinians is both untrue and absurd. I am devastated for the loss of the innocent lives on both sides of this war and I call for peace.‘I understand that it is uncomfortable to defend your friends when a war like this is raging, but the woman who sells me bagels is not to blame, neither is my doctor or publicist, manager, ex-boyfriend [Culture Club drummer Jon Moss, who is Jewish], or my thousands of Jewish friends. This song is for them.’The lyrics leave no doubt where his sympathies lie. ‘You never mention October 7/ Young girls raped against trees/ Murdered brutally/ For the crime of dancing,’ he sings about the Nova music festival massacre, one of the focal points of the atrocity.‘If you’re ever confused,’ the song continues, ‘I stand with the Jews/ I don’t feel brave, I just need to behave like a human.’The chorus repeats ‘We will dance again’, a popular slogan in Israel, and the line is spoken in Hebrew at the end. The song itself sounds like a demo for a Eurovision entry, basic and unpolished but with a catchy hook. George, who sings in a growling baritone these days, makes no excuses for using AI to create the backing track. ‘I would struggle to write this with a human,’ he said. Days after the song became available online, his manager announced the star ‘will no longer be appearing in Jesus Christ Superstar at the London Palladium’ Boy George is not the only singer to face backlash for his refusal to denounce Israel. U2’s Bono said: ‘The rape, murder and abduction of Israelis at the Nova music festival [pictured] was evil’The implication is that no other musician would want to be associated with the sentiments, a truly chilling suggestion, but one that’s all too plausible.‘Look around,’ George said caustically, ‘and tell me one musician speaking out for the Jewish community, but you can absolutely guarantee they have made their living from working with a Jewish team member.’Support for Israel has become prohibited by tacit consent across much of the music business. Some stars are too big to be cowed: Madonna, said to practise a form of Jewish mysticism called Kabbalah, was vocal in her condemnation of Hamas after October 7.But from most performers, nothing less than complete conformity is demanded. The American rapper Azealia Banks pulled out of two UK festivals last year, claiming the organisers were demanding she parroted: ‘Free Palestine’.Even Bono, the lead singer of U2, has been savaged for his refusal to denounce Israel. ‘The rape, murder and abduction of Israelis at the Nova music festival was evil,’ he said last August, adding that he also understood ‘that Hamas are not the Palestinian people’.This was dismissed as ‘billionaire pacifism’ and ‘word soup’ by the Left-wing website Middle East Eye, run by former Guardian journalist David Hearst.Showing support for Palestine, on the other hand, is rewarded. The trip-hop duo Massive Attack, who last had a top ten hit in 1998, won acclaim for waving the Palestinian flag on stage at a concert in Singapore last month. For extra kudos, they were then banned from the country.And former Roxy Music keyboardist Brian Eno was mobbed with support for his charity single Lullaby, which was a top five hit last Christmas.Peter Gabriel contributed lyrics, and Neneh Cherry, Celeste, Dan Smith and the London Community Gospel Choir sang on the track, which raised funds for a collective called Together For Palestine.All these artists are saying essentially the same thing: war is awful, the innocent are being slaughtered, pray for peace.But none of those siding with Palestine face being prevented from performing on the West End. None of them will lose their recording contracts over it.That applies only to artists who show sympathy for Israel, or who insist there is good and bad on both sides. They are the ones subjected to a barrage of intimidation and virulent contempt.The Left now exerts almost total control over what musicians can say and what opinions they can hold, if they want to keep working. Nothing less than complete support for the Palestinians and their terrorist leadership is acceptable.The industry wasn’t always like this. Nearly 60 years ago, John Lennon, appalled by the Left-wing dogma spouted by some of his contemporaries, sang in one of his last Beatles songs, Revolution: ‘If you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao/ You ain’t gonna make it with anyone anyhow.’How pop has changed. Today, if you want to make it, you’d better be carrying a placard that says ‘Free Palestine’.