Dame Maureen Lipman speaks to a large crowd of pro-Israel demonstrators protesting outside the BBC in London over the BBC’s recent documentary “Gaza: How to survive a Warzone.” Photo: Lab Ky Mo / SOPA Images via Reuters Connect

British Jewish actress Maureen Lipman defended pop icon Boy George in a new op-ed for The Spectator while discussing her own experience performing in the musical “Allegra” in the United Kingdom and facing a mob of pro-Palestinian protesters who tried to have theaters boycott her.

Lipman spent 13 weeks touring and five weeks in the West End performing “Allegra.” She wrote in the op-ed that a “gang of protesters” tried to boycott her from theaters in Aberdeen, Glasgow, and Bath for believing in the state of Israel’s right to exist. In late April, the Aberdeen branch of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign shared a poster on Instagram that depicted Lipman with horns while holding a pitchfork and called for a boycott of her performance in the Scottish city.

Lipman wrote in her op-ed that as she was finishing her most recent West End run the protesters “went underground in London” and “were replaced by an altruistic band of brethren of all faiths called Mensch, who turned up to protest against the protestors. God bless them.”

She then talked about Boy George, who has been targeted by anti-Israel protesters recently after releasing the song “We Will Dance Again,” which defends Israel and its military actions in the Gaza Strip during the country’s war targeting Hamas terrorists who orchestrated the deadly Oct. 7 massacre in Israel in 2023. Lipman also claimed a “group of sanctimonious actors forced Boy George out of his contract to play King Herod in ‘Jesus Christ Superstar.'”

“They allegedly pressured producer Michael Harrison into sacking Boy George because he has, in a brave song called ‘We Will Dance Again,’ defended Israel’s right to defend itself after the Hamas pogrom,” Lipman wrote. “In other words, Boy George has a different political stance from some of the cast. Powerful people. The show itself concerns a nice Jewish rabbi fighting prejudice from angry mobs in his ancestral home of Israel … Could this be the death of irony?”

Boy George’s manager Paul Kemsley announced last month that the singer, 65, will not star in the Andrew Lloyd-Webber musical at the London Palladium, but did not give details about the decision. “George has never been afraid to stand by his personal convictions, and I have always respected him for that. Equally, I believe it is my responsibility to make decisions that are in the best interests of my artist while also showing respect to others,” Kemsley said.