Synopsis

Boy George appears before a stern courtroom, where he is treated as though his identity and behavior are evidence of a crime. The proceedings give way to stylized flashbacks set in London nightlife, including the Gargoyle Club in 1936 and the Dolphin Square Health Club in 1957. Surrounded by dancers, judges, and onlookers, George moves between accusation and performance, turning the video into a theatrical portrait of prejudice, judgment, and emotional vulnerability.

Factoids & Trivia

• The courtroom scenes were filmed in the council chamber at Islington Town Hall. Other sequences were shot at the Gargoyle Club in Soho and the Dolphin Square Health Club in Pimlico, while some pool scenes were filmed at Hornsey Road swimming baths.

• The original version shown in the United Kingdom and many other territories included brief blackface imagery and judges wearing wigs. MTV in the United States removed those scenes and substituted footage of Boy George walking backward out of a swimming pool.

• The song became Culture Club's first major hit and their first UK No. 1 single after the band's earlier releases had charted much lower.

• The video's courtroom imagery gave visual form to the song's language of guilt, crime, and emotional punishment, while also presenting Boy George's gender-nonconforming image as something being judged by an intolerant public.

• The single was released on September 6, 1982, from Culture Club's debut album, *Kissing to Be Clever*.