New Delhi, July 31 -- the wreckage of a self-inflicted controversy that made his continued association with the production politically impossible.

The British singer, born George Alan O'Dowd and known globally as the face of 1980s new wave act Culture Club, withdrew from the production after releasing an AI-generated pro-Israel song that drew immediate and intense public backlash. Critics, Palestine solidarity groups, and fellow performers characterized the track as genocide denial, a charge that landed with particular weight given that the Hamas health ministry reports more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 2023.

The news of Boy George's departure emerged Thursday, with Deadline reporting that he had withd...