Boy George and Culture Club are guests on Phil Donahue's Chicago-based talk show "Donahue." Midwestern moms and grandmoms and daughters ask him 1984's most pressing questions about his appearance and sexuality. Oh, and his music.
Hes intelligent. But a bit of a frigging douchebag in this interview. Exactly what a woman wants! 😄 However theres better "interviews" with him than this. On later years, your clearly notice hes learnt how to become more humble however.
3506Dodge, Yea but he is the one being mostly disrespectful, people are respecting him more than what he is giving them, for me, he has a very defensive attitude, even though he is one of my favorite performers, he always acts shitty.
Halloweenville He was an overt homosexual in the 80’s. Of COURSE he was defensive. He was picked on constantly, so defensiveness was his way of coping. He assumed those straight looking people disrespected him before even meeting him. Edit to add: did you live in the 80’s?
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I freakin love Boy George. I’m 50 years old and grew up listening to him. No matter his fashion or anything else it is undeniable that he has one of the most beautiful singing voices ever
I've always loved Boy George, his music has always been the purest in my opinion, it's clean, not about sex n drugs, he's respectful n kind n so misunderstood by certain ppl. My older late bro also loved his music, he was a cowboy, rancher, there are certain songs that reminds me of him. God bless*
At this time I was working in a hotel that Boy George was staying I served him and his band breakfast In his suite before this interview he was very polite and a true delight to serve this brings back good memories for me ❤️
Lazy Belphegore, I took his comment to that fellow as being very sincere on his part. His whole point during his part of the interview, based on the questions asked, was that people are free to look however they do and dress however they like. LottaTroublemaker has commented that he was sooo cute, a bit snarky..... but I don't think w/ his comment to that guy he was being in the least bit snarky. Fabulous that he was able to make the guy smile when perhaps a lot of people in the guy's life, or strangers, didn't and weren't positive w/ him about the way he looked.
I love Boy George back then and now. He’s authentic, he’s well spoken, he’s respectful, and he’s delightful. He gave great food for thought. We need more artists like him in the world.
He was laid out on that stage like a piece of meat! Yet he held his ground so well. How times have changed and what George is saying is now daily life!
Me and boy George are exactly the same age I remember when Donahue came out we were both around 18 my son was just barely a year old.i admired George so much because I came out too my mom at the age of 12 and it was a hideous experience for me . Especially back in those days. I'm so glad now so much has changed for the kids up & coming and boy George had a big part in that .too that's why I know I'm an advocate for our lgbtq community kids and teens. Education is the key because back in those days we didn't have any.i was a misfit kid piercings clothes nobody else wore .if not for boy george I wouldn't of had anyone too connect with. He was quirky he wasn't afraid of his gender-bending and the shock that most people had because of it he handled it so well he never changed the person that he truly was. Despite people trying to put him down. He crawled through the s***that was our naive society at the time and come out smelling like roses on the other end 🌹.I love him so much!! To this day I'm stil as queer as I was at 12. So it wasn't a phase I was forced too date boys and I got pregnant my first time😱 I was 17. He was the only thing that I had that really loved me my son , I had my daughter at 21 my mom was happy and I believe God blessed me with my baby's so I would have a real family that loved me they know my sexual preference and they don't judge me at all 😀George got me through a lot of emotional stuff that I was going throughand when I see him today I'm equally as proud.thank you for being my inspiration and giving me strength when I didn't think I had any 💔left.your my saviour I endured years of physical emotional& psychological abuse from my mom because I was a lesbian. I couldn't have got through those days & yrs 😭 without your strength and your music.god bless you boy George❤️
Ya in 2022 its a rat race, no morals or respect like old days..i miss the 80s. We use to go out to clubs and listen to live bands, rock and country and what ever. Never no shooting just people having fun.
I’m so impressed by him! He’s being asked over and over again to defend his look, persona, music yet he’s not defensive in the least. His answers are intelligent, poignant, respectful and on point. What an impressive man, I never realized how much so.
This guy had more balls than anyone in the audience, remember this is 1984. It's a total achievement to be what you wanna be and it's not as easy as it looks.
The whole time the joke was on the audience. Culture Club and Boy George were breaking all the rules. I miss the 80's and the idea of individuality. So many things musically were happening. The times were much happier than what is going on today.
Always is but so many said they changed their minds and learned from this conversation. Same with what happened when Manson (I know, disgusting person now) was on. They never suspected him to be so articulate and smart. Such a cliche but never judge a book by its cover.
Of course the "joke" was on the audience! "The joke is on the entire worldwide from day #1 utterly duped masses about everything!" The so called fake 100% made from scratch, manufactured "Boy" is not a boy at all! The 100% FEMALE born puppet boy and her mis-placed to far to the left side lopsided Adam's Apple implant+those GIANT SHOULDER PADDED jackets are so ridiculous+distracting how did no one ever notice that she is a 100% WOMAN!
@@dinafawzy1311 - C’mon, how can you ask something like that? Gay is not something people become and stop being, it is something they are born as and is all their lives!
Has anyone in this audience even noticed how insightful, articulate and honest Boy George is......a genuine guy who is no idiot. He is only 23 and not many are as measured and business savvy at that age. Both he and George Michael had genuine talent and incredible voices at a young age.
I am assuming she did not see him without makeup because he was gorgeous without it and today with no makeup and a beard he looks like everyday Joe. But he still is handsome.
I grew up with Boy George and was too little to know that the way he dressed wasn't "normal". By the time I got older, I was used to seeing men dressed like him. I'm amazed watching this and people so focused on his clothes but people didn't know back then what we know now. Boy George was a pioneer.
your correct his music is ,,& was amazing .. Brave person great mother to except him so well his interviews are amazing good for utube to keep all these ! Enjoyed your words. Thanks for sharing
People were pretty polite in the 80s, even when they disagreed with you. It's a nice change from the trolling, rudeness and rabid political correctness of today.
Everyone had something called respect and we were all taught the golden rule , something that's not taught no more ,now a days its my way or your a nazi
Exactly what I noticed and was going to say. Everything now is strongly politicized, but, it unfortunately has to be that way; the country has been guided towards a divide and here 9 months after your comment, things are worse than ever. A significant enough percentage of people support the destruction of America now, and there are those who will actively fight that as they should. Back in the 80's there were political policy decisions that people disagreed with, but it was never about outright destroying the foundations of the country...which is what it now is. Anger and rudeness are to be expected when a percentage of the country wants it dismantled and the rest does not. I grew up in the 80's and it was a different world. A much better one.
does that define one's intelligence? most of the time it s exactly the school,that makes people stuipid and conformed( ever saw Pink Floyd's The Wall, Twisted Sister I wanna Rock and so many other examples?)
My older sister introduced me to Boy George's music when I was a little kid and I have been a fan ever since. He was a great artist then and he still is. And kudos to Phil Donahue for having such interesting guests through his entire run. I used to watch his show every day when I was a kid too.
Boy George is absolutely articulate intelligent and respectful in this appearance. Watching in 2020 is a trip the points he makes are still relavent and many questions and points the audience makes are quit prophetic.
Even George more intelligent than most of the politicians in generally. He well mannered, control his emotion quite good considering at his young age. Respect him a lot.
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Boy George was way ahead of his time. An amazing young man with beautiful eyes, absolutely glamorous, yet down to earth at the same time. What a trailblazer! Absolutely love everything about him!
I think that Boy George has the most beautiful eyes. He is honest and true to himself. You have to hand it to this guy. He is honest and successful. What more can one ask of oneself? I like him and I'm old, beyond gray.
I love Boy George! I remember when he was first on stage singing Karma Chameleon! He was amazing! I love his voice! I believe that he was on Solid Gold. I love The Culture Club! His clothes are amazing!
So damn brilliant. Many bands today, mostly metal bands talk exactly about what George did decades earlier. So ahead of the time. Too many people can't look past looks and in general think musicians are stupid puppets. So refreshing hearing any huge star talk about the light and dark sides of the industry and celebrity status. So helpful for people who wanna be stars.
Boy George was so so far ahead of his time. He's so mature, so open, so accepting of himself. I love it. And I love how whenever the audience or interviewer make a point or question about the way he is for example, he always has an answer straight away that is completely justified and valid, that nobody could argue with.
boy george is a lifelong serial criminal, who was convicted in 2007 of a crime for which, if the victim had been a woman and not a man, he would still be in prison.
My husband and I saw him and Culture Club in Pittsburgh around 1982-1983 with John Cougar Mellencamp! Both were AWESOMELY FANTASTIC!!! I love JCM but George and the band make me feel happy and can’t stop DANCING ❤😁😁😁😍
The questions weren't random, they were clearly very pointed. White people demanding answers for why he exists instead of assimilating was the whole category, for the full 45 minutes
What a trip to watch this..... I thought I'd just watch like a minute...but here I am 13 minutes into it. I was one year old when this aired...39 now. It's odd how the audience reacts. In lots of ways they do seem far more old fashioned than now....but in other ways, they almost seem more progressive. The big guy around 8:05 was super cool, despite coming from a totally different world. But I imagine his modern equivalent...would be an antisocial angry Trump voter who would find all this gender bending creative aesthetic androgyny to be totally foreign and scary and immoral. Whereas the guy at 8:05....was probably into Bowie when he was a kid. It's just strange how some things change, others stay the same, etc. A lot of the people here came across as more nuanced and aware and focused than people today.....yet also far more naive and myopic in their intellectual understanding of broader reality. I think the internet kinda stole our singular nuanced focus and attention....while making us HYPER aware of everything everywhere all the time.
@Melissa Ross-Merkel People were rude to him, in a more passive aggressive manner. Performers like Boy George, and GLBTQ people in general, didn’t receive the support they do today. The undercurrent of their comments was very hurtful. People really thought gay people were deviants, like we view offenders today. Many saw it as the same thing! They though men who wore makeup must be whacked out on drugs! The assumptions were painful in the past, not just offensive. Beliefs about feminine men being gay, and gays being dangerous, in the 80s, are why those rumors ever spread about Michael Jackson. The press (and other opportunists) knew society would swallow it whole. That could never happen in 2022! They’d have been canceled before they started.
1984 I was a freshman in High School , and we made mad fun of this guy. Now today I have nothing but respect for the man. It's funny how you see things differently after you grow up.
I was a year ahead of you. It was a different time back then. Most people weren't openly gay, much less dressed as the way he did. It came off as weird, so it wasn't uncommon to make fun of him. Times have definitely changed. Back then it shocked the world...lol
I Just attended his concert for my first time ! He’s the same after all these years , excellent performance esp w his band and singers! I hope he continues to tour ! I appreciate his longevity! God bless Boy George!
Boy George is amazing for being brave to stand up for what he believes in. Brave to be true and brave to be original in his own way. Luv u George!!! 👍💯💯💯❤️
He’s really not that brave….he has a large amount of mental illness and self loathing and narcissism as do most people who are flamboyant and state that they are “bored” with self acceptance. They rabidly crave attention and truly believe that they’re superior to everyone else while actually having an incredible amount of self hatred. You may not agree with me but I am as entitled to my opinion as you are to disagree. BTW, he is a heroine addict but yet sits there lying that he doesn’t use drugs.
7:56 guy. He was the most attractive, coolest person in the audience. George clearly liked him. 2020, 36 years later, I hope that the cool man is doing well in surviving the time travel forward with us.
Yes, and shocking, since AIDS was really getting a foothold on the world! Surprisingly, the audience was rather subdued, but George was prepared for the slings and arrows that could have easily been shot at him.
Thank you for posting this! I do enjoy some of Boy's solo, as well as his work with Culture Club. It was good to see this interview because it's always nice to get a glimpse into artist personalities. I see he's very intelligent, quick-witted and well-spoken!
Thank you so much. Its amazing people back then thought he and his message wouldnt change the children I am the living proof he influenced my life about war and sexuality until today he is the smartest person I know. Just look at the kids in this video looking at him with opened mouths.Beleive me they all remember everything he said.
I was taken aback by her comment as well. I was a teen in the 80's and can definitely say that music and the musicians I admired brought me a lot of awareness about various issues in the world, as well as an acceptance of the ways people vary and that humans are at their best when helping each other out. I definitely learned a lot from my favorite musicians and their music; it wasn't all mere entertainment to me. They were a window to a much wider world than my own insular one.
Have no clue why i ended up here. But god dammit he is sharp, funny and true to him self. Have heard his music as gazillions of others... just never heard him interviewed... great watch this
23 is adulthood and if someone of this age cannot express themselves beyond disses on Facebook and emojis (modern day heiroglyphics), they need their asses whooped
I disagree ! How quick did he look down and distract grabbing that glass of water when the lady asked how he will be when married and as a father ! He's gay and hid his true for decades . People were scared then , if not scared they knew it would end their career .
He was so far ahead of his time with his acceptance of being different. I don’t think people now would be brave enough to ask those kinds of questions because they how ridiculous and demeaning they would sound. I Love Boy George. Been to 2 of his concerts in Orlando in the past several years. He really knows how to entertain!
I can't believe this much time has passed! I bought every Culture Club album and still have them and every now and again will pop them on the turntable. This makes me feel sad and aching for my youth and yearning for the simpler era.
I recall the 80s and 90s being extremely complicated. Cities burning, inhumane desert war, parents on Valium, sugar food/meals, toys that can kill you, people in denial that homosexuality is a thing, you weren’t allowed to think differently. Yet parents partied themselves. We rather raised ourselves. We had radio and music videos. Parents started using police on children just for smoking pot.
We are only now starting to wear blue lipstick...just look at the "makeup gurus" on RU-vid and Instagram. He was totally ahead of his time. He does seem level headed here and genuine. I was a young teen when he first made it and never really got into him. Then I saw Douglas Booth play him in a BBC tv show. I found it fascinating. I'm so glad he's back to being drug free. It's like I just discovered him. It was the same for me with the Beatles, almost 20yrs ago.
I wore a frosty blue lipstick at age 11-12 in 1994, it was a dollar at my local drugstore...I thought I looked sooo cool but in reality it looked awful with my skin tone & hair color and the other kids would ask me why was I wearing "cheesy 80s makeup?" I too remember thinking of it as an "80s thing " because as a young child in the 80s I remember my eldest siblings and cousins some of which were into punk and some into Madonna and boy George wearing various shades of blue lipstick. When it started becoming popular again recently, my 1st thought was yay the 70s-80s glam rock /punk look is kinda coming back! Sadly even in 2021 blue lipstick looks bad on me, lol. Its amazing on George though! It even matches his eyes
I'm soo thankful for the Boy George's of the World. I so appreciate his honesty and heartfelt courage to own it. He is authentic, beautiful and a talented entertainer who challenged the status quo just by being himself with intelligence, wit, humor, grace and integrity. Good on you Boy George! Good on you!
I was a kid when Culture Club was popular and no clue at the time how much they hounded Boy George. He was a kid in his early twenties dealing with fame along with the endless questions about his looks and sexuality. He handled it like a pro.
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FANTASTIC!!! watching in 2021, I've always loved Boy George his imagination and excellent talent is the true reason why he was driven to be in the entertainment arena....thank u George for always being U!
I don’t know how I missed this show in 1984! I must have been in school and not known about it. I loved Culture Club, and I used to watch Donahue sometimes. I had no idea Boy George was ever on the Donahue show! Thanks so much for posting this! Great show. I’m surprised at how concerned those Midwestern moms were about Boy George. I guess just because he wore make-up? Or maybe some thought he was gay? Anyway, I’m pleased to see that Boy George and the rest of Culture Club seemed to win the audience over with their personalities. 33 years later, I’m getting to see this; thanks again.
I love boy George I don’t care what no one says that man had a soulful voice I used to love to hear him sing and his make up is on point. His eyebrows looks way better then the eyebrows that people are drawing on today.
More than 30 years have passed and his word is so updated. He is very smart and for sure ahead of his time then. Very brave and polite answering with respect to this crowd.
Love the guy at 8:20. That's definitely the message we should be spreading. You don't have to like how someone dresses or looks, but you should still treat them with the respect they deserve :)
@@xoxxobob61 I think it was just that community/audience. I lived through this and don't remember any such outrage... (though I was in NY not Midwest).
Memory Rinehart I was brought up in Australia in the 80s and I don’t remember many people judging Boy George either I was a fan and I thought he was popular here 🤷♀️
I’ve always been so impressed with this man! He’s extremely talented; and very intelligent .. it’ was apparent he had a strong ambition & drive to use his talents to build such a career!
he is a great singer, enjoy his make-up and clothes. hey, he is in show-business! you have to be different and fun. he is different. for a man he is very pretty!
This appears to be Nov. or Dec. 1984, around the time of the Band Aid project in Nov., through the Top of the Pops performance of 'Do They Know It's Christmas.' Thanks for posting!
I watched this when it aired. Funny to look back at it again after all these years. The times were just different and George was just, you know, so CONTROVERSIAL! Oh My!! Loved him then and love him even more now for it.
"The War Song" was always my favorite even though it never even came close to #1 in the states. I remember seeing the video once on MTV & one of my friends saw it at their house. It was still one of my favorites. "I'll Tumble 4 U", "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me", & "Time" were the 1st 2 songs that I heard & then I saw their videos.
@@calisongbird I grew up with Donahue, obviously so did you, I’m close to 60. You can’t expect that everyone landing on this video knows who he is. I work with girls who have never heard of Alanis Morissette. 🤷🏻♀️
I never thought of Boy George's sexuality. I loved the music and found him to be artistic and creative(especially the clothing), but as a teen; The music, the group, the clothing, the dancing....was all just terrific!!
Yeah, I was a little kid in the ‘80s, and I took for granted that performers dressed up like Halloween, as George said, for fun and to make a good show. I was kind of scared of Annie Lennox and Grace Jones, tbh! They looked so severe. 😂 I saw an interview with Annie Lennox years later, and she’s a soft spoken lady. I was more worried about artists who looked like robots or vampires, or mean teenagers. Anyone “nice” was ok with me! No, it didn’t persuade me to dress like them. Positive artists make kids want to be themselves, and express themselves. I think there’s more conformity in the heavy consumerist messages in music of the 2000s. Hannah Montana “rapping”, “J’s on my feet. So get like me.” 🤢
@@sciencenotstigma9534Mike Will honestly made that song for me. Because the instrumental is fucking fire. And the only reason Miley’s part was decent enough was because Nicki Minaj wrote it. Any other song from that era was nothing but catchy cringe teenage angst.
I’ve always love Culture Club, but never taken much time to listen to any interviews. I have to say this is by far one of the most intelligent and interesting interviews ever! Boy George was beyond well spoken, and the response to the audience was priceless. Thank you so much for posting this!!!
I love it! When I was 14, in 1979, there was a new club in my town, the first punk club in fact. So many teens and college students started punk bands, and androgyny was a central theme in both the male and female musicians in Austin's punk scene. It changed my life irrevocably. Austin was a blast in the 70s, and 80s, and minors were allowed in to the clubs, so I saw so many awesome shows in my youth.
I loved him in the 80s and I love him now..this brings back so many memories...He was the best in the 80s, I have everything he ever put out...Everything about him was just wonderful 😊😊😊😊😊😊😊Ty for sharing this video, its awesome
I was imbarest back in the 80s to admit I liked boy George.but now at 52,I have respect for him because he wasn't afraid to be himself.i wish I had his strength to be myself.to this day I still suffer worrying about what people think
