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Boy George culture clubbed by ‘bully’ J.K. Rowling after picking a fight over trans rights

June 19, 2025 | | Print Article

Former Culture Club frontman Boy George likely instantly regretted locking horns with author J.K. Rowling.

The Grammy-winning singer and DJ took a shot at the “Harry Potter” author on social media, and Rowling unleashed a blistering comeback that was applauded by X users.

The 64-year-old gay artist, whose real name is George Alan O’Dowd, jumped into an exchange in which Rowling asked another user, “Which rights have been taken away from trans people?”

“The freedom to live without constant persecution, which you and your TERFarmy have taken from them,” an X user wrote, referring to Rowling as a Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist (TERF).

“When ‘persecution’ is redefined to mean ‘not being allowed to reorganise society based on unfalsifiable feelings, to compel everyone else’s speech and belief and to take rights away from other protected groups’ you’ll be absolutely right,” Rowling wrote.

Boy George reposted with his own dig, “The right to be left alone by a rich bored bully!”

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Rowling fired back with a string of reality checks for the singer.

“There are many differences between us, George, but some are particularly relevant to this debate. 1. You’re a man and I’m a woman. 2. You’ve been wealthy and famous since your early 20s. I didn’t become well known until I was well over 30,” she wrote.

She continued her list with number 3: “I’ve never been given 15 months for handcuffing a man to a wall and beating him with a chain,” referring to George’s conviction over the assault of a male escort.

“I believe in freedom of speech and belief,” Rowling added in her fourth listed item.

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“For more than half my life I was a regular anonymous person,” continued Rowling, who regularly gets smeared by the left for her comments about the transgender community.

“Some of those years were spent in poverty. That’s why I understand the importance of single-sex spaces for women who’re reliant on state-funded services. That’s why I understand why mixed public changing rooms are a problem for women. That’s why I have a problem with men ‘identifying’ into women’s rape crisis centres, domestic abuse and homeless shelters that are supposed to be single-sex,” she wrote.

“I don’t stand against gender identity ideology because I personally still need those services, but because my life has taught me exactly how vulnerable women are when they don’t have the money/influence I have now,” she added. “You yourself have been convicted of violent assault. The overwhelming number of people who commit crimes of violence are male, just like you. That’s why I don’t want to see men identifying into women’s prison cells or any of the spaces mentioned above. Not all men are violent or predatory, but enough are to make safeguarding necessary.”

She concluded her message to Boy George by reminding him of what he once stood for.

“Lastly, I’m a writer who believes in freedom of speech and belief. As we both know, the safe, fashionable thing in the arts world right now is to do exactly what you’re doing: parrot TWAW and sneer at the unenlightened plebs who think sex is important and matters,” she said. “For a man who was once all about non-conformity, George, you couldn’t have become more predictably or more tediously conformist.”

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After Rowling’s message, George added to the insults in another thread.

Meanwhile, Rowling was cheered on by X users after her lengthy message.

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Frieda Powers
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