Boy George spoke about the Golders Green attack. Photo / Getty Images
The Irish state broadcaster has become embroiled in an anti-Semitism row over an interview with Boy George.
Patrick Kielty interviewed the pop star about the Golders Green attack on RTE’s Late Late Show last week. During the discussion, the Irish presenter said that the “backdrop” to the north London double stabbings was “the horrors in Gaza and this is a complex thing”.
Boy George was in the Golders Green area at the time of the attack and previously said he had been left “in tears” following the stabbings of Shloime Rand, 34, and Moshe Shine, 76.
In the aftermath of the assaults, the pop star said he had received abuse online over his messages of solidarity with the Jewish community.
Boy George said: “For me, personally, growing up I have had so many beautiful Jewish friends and I still have. Being asked to turn against the whole race of people is not acceptable to me and I am getting a lot of abuse for it but I don’t really care.”
In response, Kielty said: “You have attacks on the Jewish community and the backdrop of that obviously is the horrors in Gaza and this is a complex thing.
“I know you have always spoken out that violence is never the answer.”
Boy George responded: “I think you don’t blame whole nations for what is going on in America or Russia or anywhere else, I think it’s really about your relationships with people, I don’t choose my friends based on their race or their sexuality or their age, I choose people because I like them.”
He went on to say that he knows lots of amazing Jewish people, and said “if you don’t know any Jewish people maybe that’s the problem”, and then turned to the audience and said “do you know any Jewish people?”
The question was met by silence.
“Look at the quiet, so weird, as a country that’s had a lot of pain, we should know what that feels like,” Boy George then commented.
After the broadcast, Holocaust Awareness Ireland described the interview as “extraordinary” and accused RTE of being “disturbingly unbalanced” in its coverage of Israel and Jewish people.
Quite an extraordinary interview on @RTELateLateShow last night.@BoyGeorge lived in Golders Green and speaks about his life long relationship Jewish people, explaining how his support for Jews has resulted in him receiving much abuse. Two defining moments come when he asked the…
— Holocaust Awareness Ireland (@Holocaust_Irl) May 2, 2026
The Campaign Against Antisemitism said it was shocking that Kielty’s reaction to the attempted murder of two Jewish people was to refer to the conflict in Gaza.
A spokesman said: “Boy George has been a steadfast supporter of the Jewish community in this difficult period, enduring online abuse for daring to stand up for this embattled minority. We are enormously grateful for his lonely voice standing up for Jews.
“What a contrast to Patrick Kielty, whose first reaction when Jews are stabbed on the streets of Britain is to reference Gaza.
“As long as people continue to seek ‘context’ and ‘rationale’ for violence against Jewish people, that violence will persist, and they will have had a hand in it.”
In September last year, RTE announced it would not take part in the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest “if the participation of Israel goes ahead”.
In a statement, the broadcaster said it “feels that Ireland’s participation would be unconscionable given the ongoing and appalling loss of lives in Gaza”.
Essa Suleiman, a 45-year-old Somalia-born British man, has been charged with the attempted murders of Rand and Shine. He has also been charged with the attempted murder of another man, Ishmail Hussein, in Southwark hours earlier.
He was remanded in custody at Westminster magistrates’ court and will appear next at the Old Bailey on May 15.
A spokesman for RTE said: “On Friday’s Late Late Show, Patrick Kielty addressed the Golders Green attack with his guest Boy George, who had witnessed the aftermath, as part of a wide-ranging interview.
“Patrick stated clearly, without qualification, that these attacks were ‘horrific’. He also said that the attacks took place against the backdrop of the horrors in Gaza. At no point did he say, nor would anyone reasonably infer, that there was any justification for the attacks whatsoever.
“As someone who lost his father to a terrorist attack, Patrick has always been empathic, measured and sensitive on such matters, which he was again on this particular show.
“Shortly after the October 7 attacks in 2023, Patrick signed off the Late Late Show with an expression of sympathy for the victims and a hope for peace that has since been viewed over three million times.
“On Friday’s show, Patrick allowed his guest to share his experience and views in a sensitive and editorially appropriate manner.”
Kielty’s father, Jack, was shot dead in 1988 in Dundrum, by loyalist paramilitaries. Three men were convicted of the killing, but freed after the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.
Sign up to Herald Premium Editor’s Picks, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week’s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here.