Boy George Denied a Visit to His High School Over Fears He Will Bring Back Its ‘Bad Reputation’

Boy George was denied a chance to go back to his high school, even for a visit.

While he has said he had a rough time when he attended elementary and high school, it seems strange that a famous alumni would not be allowed to return, visit, or speak with the current students.

Boy George Not Allowed to Visit High School

The Culture Club frontman said he intended to return and speak to current students but was informed he was not welcome because he would evoke "bad memories" of the institution.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Boy George shared that the school "wouldn't let me in. I tried to go back to my school and they wouldn't let me, because it became an academy."

He added, "When I went ... it was a mixed school with a terrible reputation. So they thought that I was going to just bring back all those bad memories [of] when the school was on its downs."

Singer Often Said He Did Not Like School

Before the former Eltham Green became a charter school and was renamed Harris Academy Greenwich, Boy George's former school had a terrible reputation and unruly student body. Now, the academy is in good standing, which is presumably the reason the staff concluded Boy George's visit wouldn't be appropriate.

ALSO READ: Boy George Raves About Harry Styles' Genderfluid Fashion Amid Billy Porter Issue

The 62-year-old musician went to Eltham Green in the 1970s, and because of his avant-garde appearance and tendancy to "bunk off" (cut class), he acknowledged he doesn't have the finest memories of his time there.

In 2010, Boy George wrote about his childhood, including his time in elementary and secondary school "My loathing of school started when I left the infants school -- I just remember lots of shouting and canings." Caning, or corporal punishment, was banned in British schools in 1986, but by then Boy George was long out of the system and was a dominant voice on the radio.

"I used to do everything I could to get off school," he said. "When I did manage to visit school, I was good at art, not bad at English -- and appalling at maths. ... I left school with absolutely no qualifications. I missed every exam. Once I'd learned to read and write, I wasn't interested in school any more."

Boy George eventually dropped out at age 15, but he was hopeful that returning now would help heal some of his memories of the past.

"I did feel like it was going to be hugely cathartic to go back to school because I never liked school and I wish I'd liked school."

Tags

Boy George