Boy George Is Denied Visa

How excited we were when the New York Post reported that our good friend Boy George would be returning to New York and performing in a series of concerts over the summer. You may remember George's unceremonious exit from New York after having to perform five days of community service sweeping the park for the Department of Sanitation in 2006. In a gesture of appreciation to the Sanitation Dept., the now clean and sober George had agreed to stop at the DSNY's Family Day on Aug. 17 at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, where he would perform a full set of his songs in front of about 5,000 people. Shows at Terminal 5 and on Westbury, LI were also scheduled.

Well, apparently not. U.S. Customs thinks it would be better if he didn't and they have denied him a visa. Here are George's comments about his disappointment as well as his views on Barack Obama, who he recently wrote a song about -- which you can listen to after the jump exclusively on PAPERMAG!

On being denied a visa:

"I'm pretty devastated because I am so excited about this forthcoming tour and having my visa application denied seems unfair after I swept the streets of New York spotless. There are a number of public figures who are openly using drugs and they have no problem with immigration and I have seriously turned my life around and I feel great right now and this is just another reminder of how bad things were. I committed a crime and I happily paid the consequences and I should be allowed to move on and get on with what I do best and that is performing and making people people dance and cry!"

On Obama's "Yes We Can" speech:

"I was deeply moved and motivated by Obama's 'Yes We Can' speech and I used it as a metaphor for personal change because there have been huge changes in my own life this past year. 'Yes We Can' equates as 'Yes I Can' from my own personal perspective and like many people I am excited by the prospect of Obama being the first black man in the White House and the next President of America. Most politicians fail to live up to the huge expectations we have for them but Obama exudes a sense of calm and after the stutterings of George Bush I feel he is just what America needs. I'm not too concerned about alienating Republicans because I'm pretty sure my audience is mostly Democratic!"

Listen to "Yes We Can" below!

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