Boy George Compares Performing Culture Club’s Signature Hit ‘Karma Chameleon’ to ‘Diarrhea Through a Wet Sock’

Boy George would rather not perform “Karma Chameleon.”

The British pop star, 64, recently appeared on the new Apple TV+ series KPOPPED to perform Culture Club’s signature song “Karma Chameleon” with K-pop group STAYC. In a new interview with The New York Post, he got quite candid on why he’s not a fan of singing the chart-topping hit.

“People think that’s all I’ve ever done,” Boy George told the outlet, aware it’s the “obvious choice” from his catalog. But that doesn’t mean he initially wanted to sing it. “I have to say that when they first picked that song, I said, ‘Oh absolutely not.'”

“I wasn’t exactly excited by doing ‘Karma Chameleon.’ It was just, ‘Oh f— off, that again.’ I’m being honest. That’s the truth,” he added. “I was like, ‘What the f – – k?’ And in fact, the first phone call that we had with Apple, I went off. I was like, ‘I’m not doing this.'”

Boy George explained, “You can imagine singing ‘Karma Chameleon,’ for me. It’s like f—— diarrhea through a wet sock. It’s about as exciting as nothing I can explain.”

Eventually, the Grammy winner came around to the idea. “I was like, ‘You know what? I quite fancy going to South Korea,'” he recalled. “It doesn’t really matter what I’m doing.”

He doesn’t regret taking the opportunity. “It was actually the adventure of going there in the end. I just loved it,” said Boy George of filming in Seoul. “I was so happy I’d done it.”

“Karma Chameleon” appears on Culture Club’s 1983 album Colour by Numbers. The upbeat track charted at No. 1 in more than a dozen countries including the U.S. and U.K.

One year after the song came out, Culture Club won Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards.

KPOPPED premiered Aug. 29. Executive producers Lionel Richie and Megan Thee Stallion recently spoke to PEOPLE about their experience making the show, where western icons reimagine one of their biggest hits in collaboration with K-pop stars.

“I like surprises. I like things that make people go, ‘What the hell? What is that all about?’ And we were sitting in my living room with Miky Lee, and Miky Lee was talking about, ‘We need to bring this K-pop thing to the world,'” Richie, 76, told PEOPLE.

He continued, “When Megan said yes, we’re off to the races. You couldn’t have heard me screaming it louder, because that’s what it takes, someone to wade into the water of this cultural exchange.”

Megan, 30, recalled saying “hell yes” to the offer. “I wanted to go over there and learn,” she said. “I wanted to go over there and fan out, so it was a perfect opportunity to do some work but also have some fun, which is what I love to make my work feel like. It didn’t even feel like work. It felt like a vacation.”