Boy George Still Thinks Being Gay Is Like 'Eating a Bag of Crisps'
Boy George takes a selfie on the grid during the F1 Grand Prix of Singapore at Marina Bay Street Circuit on September 17, 2023 in Singapore, Singapore. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

Boy George Still Thinks Being Gay Is Like 'Eating a Bag of Crisps'

READ TIME: 3 MIN.

It's funny that one of Culture Club's early hits was called "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?" It's a question that George O'Dowd might have asked the bullies who tormented him when he was kid. "When you're a gay kid other kids make you aware that you're different. You get picked on and you don't know why," O'Dowd – today better known as Boy George – told the London Times in a recent interview. But over one summer as a teenager, he did find himself and embraced his difference in fashion, being as flamboyant as he could possibly be. "Then one summer holiday it just clicked: I would go with it. I went to school with drainpipe trousers and my tie ripped in half and everyone said I looked like a tramp, but it was a turning point. There comes a time where you either just shrink away or you embrace being different."

His embrace of bohemia worked. Not only did Culture Club's music take off, but so did Boy George's look, which stressed an oversized silhouette, bold colors, braided hair, and make-up that blurred gender lines. He was an androgynous culture hero in the era of "Top Gun," and quickly became a queer icon. His and his band's glory days ended in 1986 when their album "From Luxury to Heartache" flopped at the time when George developed a serious drug habit. The band split, George went solo with some success. He segued into being a successful DJ, released a couple of albums, and wrote the score to the musical "Taboo," a success in the West End, but a flop on Broadway. The show explored the vibrant world of the London club scene in the early 1980s, blending fictional characters with real-life figures, such as the late Leigh Bowery, who in the musical creates a club called Taboo.

With renewed interest in the visionary Bowery's work (there was a retrospective of his career at the Tate Modern earlier this year), George wants to revive "Taboo." It was reported in May that George and writer/performer Jack Holden are collaborating on a new version. He is the author of the well-renowned solo piece "Cruise," a look at queer culture during the AIDS years in Britain. He also starred in the National Theatre's production of "War Horse"

For George revisiting the show gives him the opportunity to re-examine the Bowery's sexual fluidity. "What I want to explore in the show is the odd relationship between Leigh and his wife, Nicola Bowery," he says of the musical. "Long before non-binary, 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."

Characters like Bowery and arguably George came from a time when the goal was to be wholly yourself, not to represent a wider community who identify as queer, non-binary or any other label. "Oh totally. Someone said the other day, 'Leigh Bowery was the blueprint for gay identity. He would have hated that. Hated it!"

He also thinks there is too much emphasis in today's culture on sexual identity. "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?"

He is also down on identity politics, believing they can be dangerous. "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 arse is."


Read These Next