Karm (ai) chameleon - BOY GEORGE VS SCOTS SKINHEADS
Culture Club Star Boy George has come under fire after recently posting a series of AI-generated videos alongside the AI song Skinhead Stomp, utilising unauthorised images of Scottish skinhead creators without the permission of the original photographers or those depicted.
Commenters showed disdain for the post, with some calling out George’s alleged “Trash Behaviour”
Boy George, known for iconic 80s hits“Karma Chameleon” and“Do you really want to hurt me?” has been slammed after posting an AI-generated video – attached below - on February 8th, at 16:48 with the caption #SkinheadStomp. shared by Boy George to Instagram and Threads - features imagery from photographers @SineadShoots, @_Gavin_Watson and @thefhsion.xposer that has been put through AI-Generative Platforms
After the backlash, the post was removed before being reuploaded with a“Soon to Be Taken Down” mark over the top. George would then go on to respond with two further AI-generated videos, the first of which features the slogan “Smoke out the Haters”, while the latter called for Subcultures to “Have a bit of Humour”.
““I just find this whole situation outrageous””
In response, one of the depicted creators, @ella03x, posted a now-deleted video, asking George to remove the post immediately and to credit the photographers whose work was unfairly used. The original video has since been taken down, with a secondary follow-up from Ella being reuploaded on 09th Feb 2026, in which she stated, “This is not the sort of thing I usually do” and responded to the further AI videos by saying, “Boy George, we aren’t gatekeeping anything. Don’t steal photographers’ content and use people’s faces for generative AI without their permission”
MIT News claims that by 2026, the electricity consumption of AI data centres is expected to approach “1,050 terawatt-hours (roughly the same output of the entire country of Japan) While not all data centre computation involves generative AI, the technology has been a major driver of increasing energy demands and has seen wide critical disapproval from artists and the public alike.
While it currently appears that the saga has reached a stalemate, we will provide any updates we can as and when they drop.
