Boy George says Madonna failed to say hello to him backstage at London concert

Boy George showed Madonna some love and support by attending her concert in London, but it was not reciprocated.

Boy George says Madonna snubbed him at concert

Boy George showed Madonna some love by attending her concert in London over the weekend, but it seems it was not reciprocated.

The Culture Club singer was present as the Queen of Pop kicked off her postponed Celebration greatest hits on the weekend and, despite their long-rumoured feud, he thoroughly enjoyed himself.

And it did not bother him one bit that Madonna failed to say hello backstage after the show inside the O2 Arena.

“Everyone has asked, not unsurprisingly, did @Madonna say hi since I was backstage and the answer is no. Like @Adele she decided it was a step too far. Lol!” he tweeted, referencing his lack of interaction with fellow British singer Adele at her London concert back in 2021.

Everyone has asked, not unsurprisingly, did @Madonna say hi since I was backstage and the answer is no. Like @Adele she decided it was a step too far. Lol!

— Boy George (@BoyGeorge) October 17, 2023

In a series of separate tweets, the 62-year-old singer even defended Madonna from fans who complained she ran overtime and, due to noise curfews, organisers cut her concert short with a few songs left to go.

“She went on late and as a result the O2 cut her off at 11 and those of us that paid a small fortune for tickets didn’t get to see her last few songs! That doesn’t piss you off?” a critic asked on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“It’s completely disrespectful. She knows cut off and she knows to the second how long her show is.”

Boy George attended Madonna’s London show on October 16. Picture: Joe Maher/Getty Images

Boy George did not hesitate to put his two cents in, saying: “Yeah, she was a bit late but it was a great show.”

I am watching @Cnn and feeling quite emotional. Yeah, she was a bit late but it was a great show. #MadonnaCelebrationTourhttps://t.co/09BTcQTVNL

— Boy George (@BoyGeorge) October 15, 2023

The veteran singer also said he got emotional when Madonna brought her kids up on stage with her.

“Had a gorgeous night @Madonna with my sister. Seeing her kids onstage was sweet. I have seen her a few times and this was excellent,” he tweeted before sharing his prayers for the war between Israel and Hamas.

“I pray for the mother of Noam Sagi. Let us respect humanitarian law. #PeaceNotWar #Israel #Love,” he added, referring to a man whose mother was taken as hostage from her home near Israel’s border with Gaza.

Had a gorgeous night @Madonna with my sister. Seeing her kids onstage was sweet. I have seen her a few times and this was excellent. I pray for the mother of Noam Sagi. Let us respect humanitarian law. #PeaceNotWar#Isreal#Love

— Boy George (@BoyGeorge) October 15, 2023

It’s no secret Boy George has somewhat had a war of words with Madonna since the 90s.

When the American singer posed for Vanity Fair back in 1991, he famously said of the cover: “Comparing Madonna with Marilyn Monroe is like comparing Raquel Welch with the back of a bus.”

And in 2006, he reportedly called her a “vile, hideous human being with no redeeming qualities”.

However, in recent years, Boy George has grown to regret his remarks about the star.

“I’ve said awful things about Madonna and I’m not proud of that at all — I’m really not proud of that because I didn’t know her,” he told The Huff Post in 2014.

In another 2018 interview on Nova’s Fitzy & Wippa radio show, he said despite their supposed feud, he is a secret Madonna fan.

Madonna performs on the first night of her Celebration tour at the O2 Arena in London. Picture by: SplashNews.com

“She hates me! I don’t know [why], there’s so many reasons. I don’t know if she hates me anymore,” he said on-air.

“I’ve always been a secret Madonna fan, really. I’ve got quite a few of her records. We just never ever kind of managed to meet, it’s the weirdest thing.”

As for Madonna, she appeared to have other things on her mind on the night of her concert – and she shared it the audience.

“I didn’t think I was going to make it – neither did my children, that’s why I woke up with them all around me,” she told the crowd of her near-death experience in June that forced her to push back her Celebration tour by four months.

“I forgot five days of my life – or my death. If you want to know my secret, how I survived, I thought, ‘I’ve got to be there for my children. I’ve got to pull through for them.’”

Originally published as Boy George says Madonna failed to say hello to him backstage at London concert