There are a multitude of reasons I am frightened of Boy George. His makeup. His music. His penchant for chaining up male escorts and beating them. So I can’t really blame Jade Goody’s widower Jack Tweed for being fearful of George. Tweed is serving time in Edmunds Hill jail for assaulting a cab driver, while George is there for the aforementioned beating of an escort. And apparently they keep meeting up in the showers, which has left Tweed utterly terrified. And not just because he’s now seen Boy George naked.

JAILED Jack Tweed turned tail and ran from the showers in prison — after THREE encounters with naked gay star Boy George. Jack, 21, was stunned when he bumped into the Culture Club icon in the wash block of the nick where they are both serving sentences. Shy Jack, whose Big Brother star wife Jade Goody died of cancer last month, repeatedly met beefy George after being sent to cushy Edmunds Hill jail in Suffolk.

A pal said: “Jack isn’t exactly the most comfortable person when it comes to getting attention from other men. As soon as he saw Boy George was standing there naked having a wash he was gobsmacked… He grew up listening to George’s records but never imagined the first time he met him he would be stark naked in a prison shower.”

Sources said Jack TWICE went to the showers only to find 1980s icon Boy George, real name George O’Dowd, already in there wiping himself down. There was fleeting eye contact and Jack immediately turned around and fled. The THIRD time he went into the changing room where Boy George was getting undressed for his morning wash.

A pal told The Sun: “Jack knew what Boy George was in jail for and didn’t want to take any chances. The first time he saw him he just turned white and legged it.” George, 47, who stands 6ft, is said to be an intimidating figure for young prisoners at the jail.

[From the Sun]

I bet. But not because there’s anything particularly intimidating about being 6 feet tall. More that a guy who’d beet a man with a chain and is supposedly into some serious S&M style stuff is a pretty scary figure in jail. But really, if I were Jack Tweed I’d be afraid of Boy George in the shower because it means seeing Boy George in the shower. Naked. “Wiping himself down,” as the Sun was so kind to remind us. What a horrifying mental picture. I have such a vivid image in my mind right now of a fat naked bald man with a fully made-up face toweling off.

I’m going to avoid all the “don’t drop the soap” clichés and just say that I really empathize with Jack Tweed here. Sometimes people can get out early if they undergo some sort of trauma. I really think this should qualify.

Images thanks to WENN.com .

Boy George has had a rough decade. He was arrested for cocaine possession in 2006 after cops found the drug in his NY apartment when responding to a burglary call. He failed to show up for a scheduled court appearance, an arrest warrant was issued and he was was ultimately sentenced to pick up trash for a week. Then there was the escort he hired in London. Boy George met the guy over the Internet, invited him to come to his place, and allegedly handcuffed him, threatened him with sex toys and and kept him in the apartment for hours. The escort pressed charges, and now Boy George has been found guilty of false imprisonment, and been sentenced to fifteen months in jail.

Former Culture Club singer Boy George has just been sentenced to prison by a London judge for false imprisonment.

The 15-month stretch was meted out as a result of the guilty verdict handed down in December. The 47 year-old one-time phenom was found guilty of handcuffing Norwegian escort Audun Carlsen to a wall in his London apartment in 2007.

George pleaded not-guilty to the charges.

From radaronline.com

Of course there is something a little funny about this story. Boy George’s version of events kept changing, and I think at one point he claimed that he was making some kind of “citizen‘s arrest” on the escort. Boy George has had problems with drugs and alcohol, which may have led to some of his most recent problems. I have no doubt that the court system will make him serve most of his sentence, and hopefully Boy George will learn that most valuable life lesson: Don’t handcuff escorts.

Header image is of Boy George on 5/30/08. He is shown on 6/11/08 below. Credit: WENN

Boy George smokes a cigarette outside Snaresbrook Crown Court in London while awaiting the jury verdict. Photo credit: WENN

It’s official: 80s singer Boy George is a convict. The Culture Club front man was found guilty of falsely imprisoning a male escort (who likes to call himself a “male model,” ha ha) in a British court. And by “false imprisonment,” I mean handcuffing a male prostitute to a wall, recruiting another buddy of his and then teaming up to beat the guy with a chain. Apparently, the jury in this case didn’t buy George’s argument that the singer was too fat and out of shape to have committed the crime.

In the eyes of a British jury, Boy George really did want to hurt him.

A London court found the former Culture Club crooner guilty on Friday of falsely imprisoning a male escort whom he hired for an erotic porn shoot.

The 47-year-old George, who’s full name is George O’Dowd, was accused of handcuffing 28-year-old Audun Carlsen to a wall in his apartment last April and then roughing him up before the model managed to wriggle free of the restraints, flee the flat and seek help.

During the two-week trial, jurors heard testimony from Carlsen how the “Karma Chameleon” purveyor invited him over to his home to take nude photos, then locked him up and accused the escort of swiping pictures off his computer.

According to Carlsen, the accusations were merely an excuse for George and another man to get nasty. He claimed the two then held him down and punched and beat him repeatedly with a metal chain because he refused to have sex with the singer.

While the Norwegian native did admit to having a previous sexual liason with George that involved some bondage, he rejected suggestions made by the ’80s popster’s attorney that he had acquiesced to another such tryst.

The jury agreed and around noon GMT time Thursday began deliberating George’ fate before settling on today’s guilty verdict.

The entertainer, who declined to take the stand in his own defense but had previously admitted to police that he handcuffed him while he went to check his computer, will now almost certainly tumble to the slammer.

Per CNN, Judge David Radford allowed George to remain free on bail while he awaits his punishment, but he also cautioned him that he would likely face prison time.

“The fact that your bail is being continued does not imply that this will be dealt with by a non-custodial sentence,” he said. “I don’t want any false expectations created.”

[From E!Online]

If group beatings is a turn-on for George, something tells me he will thrive in prison- although I don’t know if he enjoys being the one chained and punched as much as doing the chaining and punching. It’s another bizarre chapter in the life of one of music’s most colorful weirdos. Maybe he’ll end up in the same jail cell with Blake Incarcerated – that’s one guy who could use a good chain-whipping.

George is shown below performing in London in October. How’s he going to do his makeup in jail? Photo credits: WENN.

Lawyers for singer Boy George – who is currently on trial for handcuffing an escort and then beating the crap out of him – claims he’s too fat to have attacked the escort. George has put on some serious poundage since his “Karma Chameleon” days. Most of the time that’d be considered a bad thing, but I guess he managed to find the one advantage to a larger pant size: getting away with crimes.

Boy George was too fat to have attacked a male escort in his flat, according to his own lawyer. The Culture Club singer has gained so much weight since his Eighties heyday that he would not have stood a chance in a fight against his alleged victim Audun Carlsen, Adrian Waterman QC told Snaresbrook crown court.

The DJ and former pop star, appearing in court under his real name George O’Dowd, is accused of handcuffing the six-foot tall, wiry male escort to a hook above his bed and then beating him with a chain. The alleged attack took place after an erotic photo shoot by the pair at O’Dowd’s Shoreditch home in April last year.

Mr Waterman told the jury: “With the greatest of respect to George O’Dowd, he is not someone you could describe as terribly fit. He has put on a few pounds since the 1980s. He is not going to be a match for Audun Carlsen.”

[From the Daily Mail]

George is definitely portly, but it’s been agreed in the court that he’d gotten Carlsen handcuffed to a hook in his bedroom. Without knowing the nitty gritty details of what went on, it seems quite likely that Boy George still could have beaten the crap out of Audun Carlsen, considering the way he was tied up.

I think the lawyer’s assertion that Carlsen’s accusations are baseless and the case is falling apart is ridiculous. But from a legal angle it sounds like he might have poked enough holes in the guy’s story that Boy George may get off. If so, I beg all of you to please make sure you don’t somehow end up locked in a room with Boy George. I don’t know how, but you will end up naked and begging for your life.

Here’s a photo of Auden Carlsen. Header of Boy George taken in February. Images thanks to Fame.

Boy George scares the crap out of me. And male or female, he should scare the crap out of you too. If you are within 200 yards of him at any given moment there is a 7 out of 10 chance that he will handcuff you to a radiator and threaten to do incredibly degrading things to you. Seriously, the guy is all-out batshit insane. Assuming the charges against him are true, which… it sorta seems like they are.

George’s trial for false imprisonment and other really horrifying things (some legalese for you there) started today in London.

A Norwegian escort told a court Monday that Boy George manacled him to a bedroom wall and beat him with a metal chain after accusing him of hacking into his computer. The former Culture Club singer is on trial for the false imprisonment of 29-year-old Audun Carlsen. The 47-year-old singer, who is standing trial under his real name, George O’Dowd, denies the charge.

Carlsen told London’s Snaresbrook Crown Court that he met the singer through a Web site and went to his London home for a naked photo shoot. After the encounter Boy George sent a series e-mails accusing Carlsen of hacking into his computer, but Carlsen nonetheless agreed to return for a second photo session several weeks later in April 2007.

Carlsen told the jury that when he arrived Boy George and another man held him down and beat him before the singer handcuffed him to a hook in the bedroom wall. “George was slapping me and beating me and punching me and screaming things,” Carlsen said. Carlsen said he was able to escape by unscrewing the hook and running for the door. “I took a bit of time getting the door open and he had a metal chain that he was hitting me with,” Carlsen said.

Carlsen said he ran into the street clad only in his underwear. The court was shown photographs of red welts on Carlsen’s head and injuries to his arm which he said had been inflicted during the attack.

[From the Huffington Post]

Carlsen’s testimony sounds consistent with the published reports of the accounts he gave to the police. I’m guessing the defense’s main angle will be to try to discredit him by using his profession against him and/or finding character witnesses to do the same. Unfortunately for Boy George, it’s more than possible for the prosecution to do the same with him. He’s had a long list of relatively minor infractions including some drug charges.

People joke about this story because it’s so bizarre, but honestly it’s really horrifying. If you take out the name “Boy George” and just make it some random man, you realize this was a really terrible crime. The brutality is especially disturbing and hints at a deep problem. Combined with drugs, it’s easy to guess that Boy George may very well be a threat to others. I cannot imagine how he’d be able to survive prison, but I think there’s a decent chance that’s where he’ll end up.

Here’s Boy George deejaying at Queen Night Club in Paris in July of 2007. Images thanks to Fame.

Gender-bending 80s singer and DJ Boy George, 47, was denied a visa to the US as he awaits trial in England. George planned to tour the US this summer and will have to stay put in the UK instead. George has been denied a visa due to a pending trial for false imprisonment charges.

In April, 2007 Norwegian prostitute Auden Carlson, 28, met George on Gaydar.com and agreed to come over to his London place to pose for erotic photos at a rate of $800. Carlson says that George and another guy took photos of him in fetish gear, and when the other guy left George handcuffed him to a hook on the wall, menacingly brandished sex toys and said “now you’ll get what you deserve.” Carlson escaped and called the cops, and it’s unclear if he got what George said he deserved, if he escaped unscathed, and/or if he got the cash he was promised for the photo session.

George will be tried for that case in Britain on November 22. He also has a criminal record in the states after he pled guilty to cocaine possession in NY. Police found 13 bags of the stuff when responding to a burglary call at his place in October, 2005. George said the drugs weren’t his and that a lot of people were in and out of his apartment, but he eventually copped a plea in exchange for community service and a stint in rehab.

Now he’s talking about his inability to enter the US and perform. The flamboyant singer appeared on The Today Show this morning wearing a bright red hat with green applique bugs and full makeup including shimmering green eyeshadow, bronze lipstick and giant penciled-on eyebrows.

Here’s a partial transcript of George’s appearance on the Today Show this morning.

Meredith Viera: “24 concert dates starting today, you’ve got to be frustrated, being denied this visa.”

Boy George: “I’m feeling very upbeat at the moment. Yes it’s disappointing because of the fans. A lot of people have bought airline tickets, so I’m disappointed for them, but it doesn’t happen it will happen in the new year…

I will come back… but I’d love to come now obviously.”

Boy George: I got “so much love” during community service in America
George confirmed to Meredith that he won’t be able to come to the US until he’s faced trial in the UK, and mentioned his community service, saying “I came and swept the streets of New York and did a great job, and as far as my problems in America are concerned I feel like I did a great job… paid my dues.”

George spoke of the love he received from the people who saw him pushing a broom, saying “When I came to my community service I got so much love everyday… apart from the press thing… I was surprised by how much affection I received… I didn’t feel humiliated I thought it was a great experience.”

Meredith Viera asked him if he’s angry that he’s being accused of false imprisonment and he said “Anger.. what good is that going to do me?”

George says he’s touring in the UK in October and there’s no reason to get upset because he doesn’t have a visa.

Boy George: “The happiest I’ve ever been”
Meredith asked him about a recent statement on his website that he’s happy and getting his life together and George said “I’m sober, I’ve put my head back on the right way… I’m the happiest I’ve been possibly in a long time.”

George said he’s not going to get upset or “have a hissy fit” and that “there’s no point.”

Boy George is shown at the opening of the RS Lounge Club on 6/11/08, thanks to WENN.

Once upon a time, Culture Club lead singer Boy George was an openly gay icon in an era where famous people lived double lives, because coming out of the closet would ruin their careers (cough George Michael cough). These days, Boy George, aka George O’Dowd, is more well known as a drug addict who likes to order male prostitutes from the Internet, chain them to a wall and refuse to let them leave. Not exactly helping the gay rights movement there, Georgie boy.

George pled not guilty to false imprisonment charges in a London courtroom today, claiming that the young prostitute, Auden Carlsen, was free to leave his apartment at any time.

Boy George has pleaded not guilty to falsely imprisoning a male escort by chaining him to a wall.

The singer and DJ, whose real name is George O’Dowd, is also accused of assaulting Audun Carlsen during the alleged incident on 28 April last year.

Prosecutors claim the 46-year-old former Culture Club frontman chained Mr Carlsen up at his home in Ravey Street, Hackney, east London.

He was released on bail until a trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court in November.

[From BBC News via DListed]<

No word yet on how George and his attorney will attempt to explain away the whole "chained to the wall" thing.

After Culture Club broke up in the 80s, George became addicted to heroin and nearly died. In 2002, he attempted to revive his career by appearing in a musical on London's West End called "Taboo." The show ran for two years and was a success in the UK, but a Broadway version produced by Rosie O'Donnell didn't fare as well. The US "Taboo" received abysmal reviews and closed after 100 shows. George now works as a DJ, and toured throughout the world last year. At least he has some money coming in to feed his need for sadistic sex acts with male prostitutes.

Boy George is shown outside of court on 11/22/07, thanks to PRPhotos.

Remember last April when Boy George tried to have his way with a male prostitute? Yeah I know you’ve blocked it out of your mind and tried to plunge it into the deepest recesses of your psyche, but there it is. Boy George and a friend found a male prostitute on Gaydar.com, got the guy to go back to George’s place, then chained him up. The petrified prostitute (that’s my favorite alliteration EVER) managed to break free and run to the police station. I have this image of a man running through the streets of London wearing only a leather harness and dragging chains behind him. Okay, now try to plunge that image into the deepest recesses of your psyche.

George has now been charged with false imprisonment.

Boy George was charged Tuesday with falsely imprisoning a 28-year-old man, the Associated Press reports. The Culture Club singer, 47, was arrested in May after allegedly chaining a Norwegian male escort to a wall in his London flat.

Auden Carlsen told London’s Daily Mail that he met Boy George on the website Gaydar and agreed to go back to his flat to take photographs. Carlsen claimed that George then pulled out a box of whips and sex toys and told him, “Now you’ll get what you deserve,” and tied him up.

“I was convinced I was going to die,” Carlsen told the paper. He said he yanked the hook off the wall and fled to the police.

This isn’t Boy George’s first run-in with the law: He was ordered to sweep the streets of NYC as part of his community service after pleading guilty to falsely reporting a burglary at his NYC pad. Police found cocaine instead. Boy George is due in court in London November 22.

[From Us Weekly]

I wonder how Boy George will plea. You would think he’d want this to go away as quickly and as quietly as possible. If he pleas, he could probably avoid jail time… and I’m guessing going to jail on a charge like this wouldn’t be pretty. Although considering the kind of stuff Boy George is into, it might be just what he wants. I have no idea if that joke even applies to British jails. Somehow I imagine the inmates are more polite and drink tea with their pinkies in the air. But something tells me there will be less of that and more “beating the crap out of the guy who got ‘Karma Chameleon’ stuck into our heads for nine years.” And now it’s stuck in my head again. Damn it.

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s a photo of the male prostitute, Auden Carlsen. I don’t know why George would think he couldn’t get a guy like that without paying him.

I can’t really tell what Boy George or the hecklers are saying as it’s kind of muffled and everything George is shouting back gets beeped out, but he was obviously mighty pissed off at some kids shouting homophobic insults at him during this ITN interview. [via]

Update: Thanks to Glitterati for the details of the interview:

Boy George looks haggard as he heads to New York Criminal Court to face drug charges. Police found 13 bags of cocaine in George’s apartment after responding to a burglary call in October, 2005. George initially claimed the drugs weren’t his and that lots of people were in and out of his apartment.

Today George pled guilty though, and charges were dropped on the condition that George enters rehab and does some community service:

Here are pictures of George outside the courtroom. Three more after the jump.

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