The American and British tours that Culture Club announced during the summer have been canceled, a spokeswoman for the band said Thursday, because Boy George, the band’s flamboyant lead singer, has developed a throat polyp. The polyp was discovered this week, and Boy George’s doctor has advised him not to sing and that an operation may be required.
The tour, the band’s first with its full original lineup since it broke up in 1986, was to begin in Rancho Mirage, Calif., on Nov. 15, and was to include performances at the Beacon Theater in New York (Nov. 25 and 26) and at the Trump Taj Mahal, in Atlantic City (Nov. 28), the final stop on the American tour. The British tour was to have run from Dec. 1 to 15. Tickets will be refunded at the point of purchase.
“We are hoping we can reschedule the concerts or next year,” the band said in a statement, “and hopefully George’s problem will be resolved.”