Boy George Called 'Pathetic' (and Worse) on Social Media for Distinctly Kylie-esque Cover of His Latest Single, 'Religion'

When Boy George dropped his latest single, "Religion," on Monday, he undoubtedly knew that the cover art was going to turn some heads. Indeed, that was almost certainly the whole reason why he chose to emblazon the single with virtually the exact same typeface, coloring, and shading of Kylie Minogue's 2023 album, Tension.

Not surprisingly, Kylie's fans immediately took to social media in force. Many had questions, while others simply offered verbal abuse, but George was quick to cherry-pick a few such remarks and counter them with quips.

When asked by one X user, "Can you share why you and Dean tribute Kylie's Tension with your 'Religion' cover?" (with the "Dean" in question being photographer/videographer Dean Stockings), George replied, "I'm recycling everything. It's all the rage. Even fashion is catching on?"

Elsewhere, a user told George, "You are scum," which was retweeted by another user saying, "This a**hole." George retweeted both of them, saying, "Or utter genius!"

Meanwhile, another user simply reposted Kylie and George's cover art side by side with the word, "Pathetic," to which George promptly shot back, "A word I would use to describe your Tweet!"

"Religion" is one of two new songs included in the audiobook of George's 2023 memoir, Karma: My Autobiography, but while "Religion" has been released as a single, the other new song, "Suddenly I'm Wiser," remains only available to purchasers of the memoir. This is George's third memoir: the first, Take It Like a Man, co-written with Spencer Bright, was released in 1995, while the follow-up, Straight, co-written with Paul Gorman, was released in 2005.

(If Karma's subtitle doesn't sufficiently underline the absence of a co-writer this time around, the book's tagline should: "The Official Story of a Musical Icon - Told in Full for the First Time in his Own Words!")

For all of the complaints that have been lodged against George for his choice of cover art, however, it takes only a quick cursory Googling of the names "Boy George" and "Kylie Minogue" together to pull up a plethora of photos of the two singers together over the course of the past few decades, making it clear that they've had a friendship for quite some time. And if that doesn't make it clear, George's tweet yesterday certainly serves to underline the point: he shared a photo of a jacket - seen below - that he and Mike Nicholls designed for Kylie.

Additionally, there are rumblings that this whole kerfuffle with the cover art could just be a publicity stunt designed to provide some advance hype for a Kylie Minogue / Boy George duet. But we'll believe it when we hear it.

Kylie, meanwhile, is getting plenty of press of her own as of late, scoring more attention in the US than she's had in a while: not only did she win a Grammy for Best Dance Recording for her single "Padam Padam," she also performed the song at the 2024 People's Choice Awards this past Sunday evening.

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