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.

Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch is up for auction – by the trustees, not the pop star himself, and will include everything in the house and on the grounds:

Jackson received word Monday from Financial Title Company, the trustee, that unless he pays off $24,525,906.61 by that date, a public auction will go forward in Santa Barbara, Calif., in front of the county courthouse.

It’s not just the house either. When Neverland is auctioned, it will include everything: all personal property inside, all fixtures and appliances, furniture, and “all merry go round type devices,” any rides, games. The auction literally includes every single thing that is or isn’t nailed down.

Fox News

Michael hasn’t lived there since 2005, when he moved to Bahrain following his last child molestation trail. While the Ranch does have a zoo, all of the animals are gone, and some of the rides are shut down too. No one lives there currently.

Michael Jackson has been in financial trouble for quite some time, as a result of some bad business decisions and large loans he has been unable to pay. Several years of legal action, from his child molestation cases, his Neverland employees, and business associates, have also drained his finances. MJ just released a new edition of his best selling album, titled Thriller 25, maybe a check will clear from his royalties and he’ll be able to buy his house back, but it’s doubtful.

Fox News suggests that if the property is not sold at auction in March, it will be listed with a real estate agent and marketed as a private corporate retreat. There is also a possibility that a very rich person might be interested in purchasing what could be quite a bargain in the fire sale.

I can imagine a very wealthy parent who likes to spoil their children might buy this for their family. The property, according to Wiki, is 11km², and has a zoo and a theme park, with a Ferris wheel, merry-go-round, zipper, spider, sea dragon, wave swinger, super slide, dragon wagon kiddie roller coaster and bumper cars.

I don’t know why people think Jacko is crazy for having the property – doesn’t it sound like fun? Unfortunately the ranch has somehow just become another sign of his wackiness, and evidence that he is a child molester. I’ve always thought it was such a shame that Michael Jackson has become best known for his marriage to Lisa Marie Presley, court appearances and plastic surgery instead of his music. Regardless of your opinion of his personal life, he is incredibly talented.

Bai Ling is one of the few people I hate more than Paris Hilton. In fact if you tossed Paris, Britney, and Lindsay into a sack, threw that sack in an industrial sized blender, and then baked whatever came out of that blender in the oven, you would have Bai Ling. I have no idea what this woman claims to do for a living – I know there’s some vague thought that she’s an actress, but for the life of me I can’t remember seeing her in anything. What she seems to do for a living is show up to every event on either coast dressed in the most asinine, ridiculous, slutty outfit known to man, and then warble some incoherent gibberish. Bai got arrested the other day for shoplifting two magazines and two packs of AAA batteries from one of those crappy travel stores at LAX before her Southwest flight. Her explanation? Bad breakup. Honey, if the rest of us thought that was a legitimate excuse to commit crimes, 50% of the world would be grabbing fistfuls of Skittles from grocery stores twice a year.

She was dealing with the “huge problem of breaking up [before] Valentine’s Day” when she was arrested for shoplifting, Ling said, adding, simply, “Wrong boyfriend.”

Damon Elliott, a close pal of Ling’s, says she was definitely not herself yesterday. “She was kind of in a mentally unstable state of mind yesterday,” he tells E! News. “She had some relationship issues going on. She wasn’t in the right frame of mind.”

Ling added several prosaic postings to her personal blog later in the afternoon—none mentioned her arrest but all could theoretically be attributed to someone who’s nursing a broken heart. An entry posted at 4:43 p.m.: “Delayed the flight, [wandering] again in the airport like a ghost, why can’t I just be the sun smile?” it read. “Life is a sad song sometime but still sings the beauty for their loved ones…”

“She was very spacey and that was pretty much what happened,” Elliott said. “She was distracted and had a lot of things going on.”

[From E! News]

I don’t know Bai, why can’t you just be the sun smile? Has anyone ever tested this woman to see what kind of medication/illegal drugs/mental illness issues she’s got? I’m guessing it’s a complicated mixture of all three. Look, breaking up with someone sucks, but when you’re an adult, it doesn’t make a big difference that it’s close to Valentine’s Day. That’s not the thing that pushes you over the edge from handling your breakup like a rational person to stealing $16 of crap from an airport convenience store.

Things really aren’t going well for Bai Ling. There’s the breakup, the arrest, the shame… but what I’m most worried about is someone who’s supposedly famous taking a Southwest flight? That costs all of $72 each way. And on top of that, she’s still so broke that she had to shoplift batteries? Maybe it’s time she stop dressing like a clock or a frog at public events and spend a little more time working.

Bai Ling’s greatest hits. Images thanks to PR Photos.

I’m pretty sure Heidi Fleiss has never gotten one word of press that was about her doing something that wasn’t one hundred percent skanky. Just looking at her face makes my skin crawl. Those flat, dead, saggy eyes and those dead jelly lips just make her look like one of those giant fish you see on ice in the seafood section of your grocery store. If I could draw, I would draw a picture of one of those fish, and then draw the same thing with Heidi Fleiss’ face on its head, and I swear to God they would look the exact same. Yesterday the only woman in the entire world who can make Paris Hilton look classy was arrested in Pahrump Nevada and given a DUI. She was under the influence of Vicodin, which is a controlled substance. And she didn’t have a prescription for it. She was charged with possession of a controlled substance and driving under the influence.

Fleiss was pulled over at about 9:30 a.m. by sheriff’s deputies responding to a report of a possible drunken driver, the Nye County sheriff’s office said. Fleiss, 42, and a passenger in the car, John Owen, were found to be under the influence of a controlled substance, the sheriff’s office said. Fleiss had prescription medication but could not produce a valid prescription, the sheriff’s office said.

Fleiss was arrested on four counts, including possession of dangerous drugs without a prescription and driving under the influence. Owen, 53, was arrested on charges of being under the influence of a controlled substance and possession of marijuana. She posted bail of $1,376, while Owen posted bail of $1,264. Both were released.

[From the Associated Press]

Fleiss told Reuters that she has a prescription for the Vicodin but didn’t have it on her. While I’m not inclined to believe Heidi Fleiss as a general rule, it’s not out of the ordinary for someone to put pills in their purse or a pill box - I do all the time. Thus you wouldn’t have the prescription on you. Of course she still drove while under the influence of the Vicodin, and presenting a valid prescription won’t make that go away.

So what’s a sexy gal with everything going for her like Heidi Fleiss doing in a town with such an unsexy name like Pahrump? Wait, that is a sexy name, because it kind of sounds like hump. Anyway, Heidi owns a coin-operated laundry called Dirty Laundry. Talk about high class. She also noted to the Las Vegas Review Journal that the ONLY regret she had about last night is how terrible she looks in her mug shot. Fleiss explained that she hadn’t showered… and her clothes were covered with bathroom grout… and bird droppings. I did not make up a word of that, that really was her explanation. She failed to explain why her clothes were covered in bird droppings and tile grout at 9:30 on a Thursday evening. Heidi Fleiss also did not present any explanation for why her face looks the way it does. Or apologize for it. And that’s the greatest tragedy of all.

Here are the mugshots for Heidi Fleiss and passenger John Owen.

It’s unfortunately true that Amy Winehouse didn’t go to rehab. Okay you can sing the song this time. But I’m getting really tired of it. It’s impossible not to hear it in my head every time I write about her. Anyway Amy did in fact go to a rehab clinic, but it was just for her weekly appointment. Which really bummed me out, because it would be nice if she stopped the snorting and injecting and such. But that’s just me, and I’m incredibly old fashioned that way. But Amy may get a forced visit to rehab – or jail. The Sun has turned over their 19 minute long video of Amy partaking in a myriad of drugs to the police – at their request.

Amy Winehouse is facing a police probe following the emergence of a shocking video that showed the star apparently smoking crack cocaine.

Police are examining the tape, after the tearful singer resurfaced yesterday to visit a rehab clinic.

The visit comes as the Metropolitan Police confirmed it would investigate the claims that she was smoking crack cocaine, taking other drugs such as Ecstasy and cocaine, and admitting downing six Valium on video.

A copy of the film was handed over at the request of the Metropolitan Police. The film was passed to Tower Hamlets detectives who are now analyzing it.

[From the Daily Mail]

I have absolutely no experience with drug addicts – so maybe this is common – but I’m shocked at how impossible it is to get this woman into rehab. I know a person has to hit the bottom of the barrel… but shouldn’t Amy be there by now? The Daily Mail goes on to report that Amy’s US travel visa is in serious jeopardy now. To be fair, it was already up in the air, but now that there’s such obvious evidence of recent drug use, there’s a good chance she won’t be approved, and thus won’t get to perform at the Grammys. You’d think that’d send the message to her, right? I’m sure it won’t. The U.K.’s Britney Spears will just keep going, until there’s nothing left to snort.

Picture note by Jaybird: Amy Winehouse and her dad Mitch arrive at a clinic in Marylebone, northwest London yesterday. Images thanks to WENN.

It looks like O.J. Simpson got another pass. Though he violated his parole and was sent back to Las Vegas last week, Simpson was let go again, though he had to post more bond. Which isn’t exactly a big deal for him, since according to his bondsman, Simpson never paid a sent on his first bond – not even the $40 processing fee. In fact, it was Simpson’s bail bondsman who turned him in for his probation violation. How did that happen exactly? Well not only did Simpson not pay a cent of the $18,725 he needed to give bondsman Miguel Pereira - who posted his $125,000 bond – but the probation violation that got Simpson thrown back in jail was actually a message he told Pereira to pass along to one of his co-defendants. So Simpson stiffed the guy, then told the guy to do him a favor and break the law for him. Talk about delusional.

His own bail bondsman, Miguel Pereira, snitched - telling authorities about a voice mail from O.J., asking him to get a message to alleged accomplice Clarence (C.J.) Stewart.

“I just want, want C.J. to know that … I’m tired of this [expletive]. Fed up with [expletives] changing what they told me. All right?” Simpson allegedly ranted.

Pereira, who runs You Ring We Spring Bail Bonds, testified at yesterday’s hearing that he ignored Simpson’s message for two months because he assumed he was just venting.

[From the New York Daily News]

The judge let Simpson go with a warning – not exactly the wisest move when dealing with O.J. She did chew him out a little, which was nice.

Rejecting a prosecution motion to jail the Juice until his April 7 armed robbery trial, Clark County District Court Judge Jackie Glass instead doubled his bail to $250,000. As live TV cameras rolled, she gave Simpson a wicked tongue-lashing for defying the court by attempting to contact one of his co-defendants.

“I don’t know, Mr. Simpson, what the heck you were thinking - or maybe that’s the problem - you weren’t,” Glass railed as a scowling Simpson sat before her in blue prison duds. “I don’t know if it’s just arrogance. I don’t know if it’s ignorance. But you’ve been locked up at the Clark County Detention Center since Friday because of arrogance or ignorance - or both.”

Glass ordered Simpson to stay in the continental U.S. - or spend the next four months in a jail cell. “Don’t get on a boat. Don’t go on a trip. You stay on dry land,” she told him.

[From the New York Daily News]

I think O.J. Simpson has a long history of showing that he doesn’t believe laws apply to him. The judge could absolutely have kept him in jail for his probation violation, and she should have. If you give O.J. Simpson an inch, he’ll take ten miles, and by giving him another shot at freedom, she’s shown him that she’s a pushover. Now Simpson and his lawyers are going to walk all over her and try to run the trial, just like his lawyers did with Lance Ito in Simpson’s double murder trial. I was initially optimistic about Judge Glass, but now it’s looking like it’ll be a replay of twelve years ago. Don’t give O.J. any grace.

Picture note by Jaybird: Simpson with Miguel Pereira on January 12th. According to Splash News: “The bail bondsman that posted bail for O.J. Simpson revoked his bond. The bondsman had bounty hunters in Miami Florida take OJ into custody and flown across country to Las Vegas. Upon landing at McCarran Airport in Las Vegas, O.J. was removed from American Airlines flight 1825 on the tarmac and put in a black SUV. Upon arriving at the Clark County Detention Center, O.J. was transferred to the custody of the Las Vegas Metro Police. News crews scrambled for video and photos as O.J. walked through the front entrance of the CCDC. Images thanks to Splash Photos.

It was pretty much inevitable that egomaniacal murderer OJ Simpson would commit some type of crime while out on bail on kidnapping (and 11 other) charges. Simpson has long believed that laws apply to everyone but him. Though he only had three conditions to his bail – that he not contact anyone involved in his trial, that he surrender his passport, and that he not leave the country – Simpson made sure to break the very first one. Luckily District Court Judge Jackie Glass is no Lance Ito, and Simpson is currently on a plane headed to a Nevada jail.

Looks like the Juice has dropped the ball again. O.J. Simpson is in custody and headed back to the slammer after allegedly violating the terms of his bail by contacting one of his codefendants in his Las Vegas robbery case. “The D.A. filed a motion to revoke his bail, and he’s currently in the custody of his bail bondsman en route to Nevada,” Las Vegas district court clerk Elana Pitaro told E! Online.

The former Naked Gun star was taken into custody by the bail bondsman Friday in Florida and put on a plane from Miami to Sin City. He’s expected to be locked up in county jail until a hearing next week. Authorities say Simpson, calling himself “Miguel,” phoned Clarence “C.J.” Stewart Nov. 16 to gripe about Stewart’s testimony at a preliminary hearing. The alleged exchange came just two days after Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Joe Bonaventure ruled that Simpson, Stewart and another codefendant should stand trial on 12 charges, including kidnapping and robbery. They have pleaded not guilty to all counts.

[From E! Online]

OJ Simpson really thinks he’s above the law doesn’t he? It’s amazing, but in a way it makes sense. When you get away with multiple murder, it teaches you that you don’t have to play by the same rules as everyone else. If the judge finds that Simpson violated his bail agreement, he will likely be sent to jail until his trail starts on April 7th. I don’t want to get my hopes up, but I think this shows that Judge Glass won’t stand for Simpson bending the rules, and hopefully she won’t let his lawyers manipulate the law. I’m sure I’m being an optimist here, but I think there’s a 50/50 chance OJ will go away for at least a year. And this is a great start.

OJ is shown on 11/10/07 outside of court, thanks to Splash News.

Michelle Rodriguez has got to be the luckiest jailbird ever. The repeat drunk driving with a side of anger actress has managed to get let out of jail AGAIN after serving a mere ten percent of her sentence. Michelle was doing time at Lynwood women’s jail, where she’d been sentenced to 180 for violating her probation. Lynwood is notoriously crowded, and although the judge made it absolutely clear that he was requiring Rodriguez to serve each and every day, the sheriff still let her out early. Rodriguez had violated her probation by drinking three times and failing to complete her community service, then forging documents to make it look like she had.

Michelle Rodriguez has been released from jail early after just 17 days, according to the L.A. County Sheriff’s Web site. The actress, best known for her role on Lost, was sentenced to 180 days for violating probation stemming from her DUI arrest. She checked into the Lynwood, California, jail days before Christmas, on Dec. 23.

Rodriguez, 29, admitted to violating her probation by failing to provide proof of completion of community service and for drinking three times while wearing an alcohol-monitoring anklet.

“She’s nice, personable, down to earth … nothing like Paris Hilton!” a correctional officer told Us a few days into her stint. “She asked to work,” the source said of the star who helped in the kitchen. “She said she wanted a job and didn’t want to be isolated like other celebs.”

[From US Weekly]

That’s the first positive thing I’ve heard about Michelle Rodriguez in a long, long time. Though to be fair, comparing anyone to Paris Hilton will generally make the other person look good. You know how they say you should always keep an ugly friend around you, so that you look better by comparison? Same thing with Paris Hilton. You should always keep her around you, so that you look like less of a douche bag. Although with that weird eye and slight Picasso quality, Paris could work as the ugly friend too. Not that Michelle Rodriguez is unattractive, but she might want to seriously consider keeping Paris around. Though Rodriguez continually bitched and moaned about how unfair it was that she was being punished for breaking the law, she’s still not as annoying as Paris. She knows more than seven words, so that tells you something.

I’d love to say that hopefully Michelle will stay on the straight and narrow from now on, but she’s got a pretty sour attitude, so I doubt that’ll happen. I’m sure in a few months she’ll be serving another two week vacation in jail for something or other. Maybe for clocking Paris Hilton. Though that would be an offense I would excuse.

Most of us have an ex or two that we’re not too fond of. Maybe it’s the guy you dated for years before you figured out what a loser he was, or maybe it was that jerk that you just went out with four times… before you figured out what a loser he was. Either way, we’ve all got a few exes that we’re not thrilled about. But generally we manage not to tie them up, bite them, and stick butcher knives in their ears. Don’t get all huffy, I said generally. I know a few of you probably have done the butcher knife thing. Unlike the rest of us, Miss Arizona contestant Kumari Fulbright, 25 or 27 (depending on which news report you read), did do all those things to her 24-year-old ex-boyfriend, whose name news outlets don’t seem to be releasing. We’ll call him Arnold. Fulbright - who is a second year law student at the University of Arizona – teamed up with another ex-boyfriend, his brother, and a third man, to kidnap and torture Arnold.

A law school student and former beauty queen who has posed for a racy calendar while brandishing a weapon has been accused of kidnapping, biting and threatening a former boyfriend with a handgun.

Kumari Fulbright, 25, who is midway through her second year in law school, faces a long prison term if convicted of kidnapping, armed robbery, aggravated robbery and two counts of aggravated assault.

In the Dec. 18 indictment, Fulbright is accused of holding and torturing her 24-year-old ex-boyfriend in early December with the help of three other men, including another man she had previously dated.

[From the Huffington Post]

Not only is she a law student and a former Miss Arizona contestant in 200 and 2006, but Fulbright also was a clerk for US District Judge Raner Collins. So we’re pretty sure she knows she’s not supposed to kidnap and torture people. The defendant lured Arnold to her home on December 8th, when she then claimed she had to take a shower. As soon as she disappeared, two men, ex-boyfriend Robert Ergonis, 46, and his brother Michael, 44, barged into the house with weapons and accused Arnold of stealing some of Fulbright’s jewelry. He was tied up and taken to another home where Larry Bruce Hammond, 40, also took part in the torture. After 10 hours, Arnold eventually got one of his hands free and grab Fulbright’s gun. It went off (apparently not injuring anyone) and he managed to escape.

Fulbright and Hammond were arrested and charged this past week, but the Ergonis brothers have fled, and authorities are looking for them in Columbia. Fulbright has a big year coming up – a kidnapping/torture trial AND she in Miss May in the 2008 calendar for Subguns.com, which features women in bathing suits holding guns. Fulbright holds a HK 51 while wearing a shiny black bikini. I bet that will really help her out in prison.

What’s the best thing to do the day after Christmas? Get up at 4 a.m. to wrestle bargain shoppers at Target of course. Sure you had to hit that old lady with the umbrella when she grabbed that disco dancing robotic Santa that was 60% off before you did, but he ended up in your cart, so it’s all worth it. Or you could just get drunk, which is what I’m guessing 90% of our favorite starlets did. Granted most of them probably didn’t wake up at 4 a.m. to get drunk, they probably just stayed up (and drunk) the night before. Mischa Barton being the notable example of night-after-Christmas drunkenness. The “actress” was pulled over and arrested at 3 a.m. on December 26th for driving under the influence.

Sources tell Hollyscoop EXCLUSIVELY that actress Mischa Barton was arrested in the wee hours this morning! She was handcuffed and arrested at 2:46AM last night and booked at 3:10AM.

Mischa was arrested on the corner of La Cienega and Santa Monica Blvd in Los Angeles late last night in her white Range Rover for Driving Under the Influence and driving without a license.

Her bail amount is set at $10,000.

[From Hollyscoop.com]

PRInsider clarifies that Barton was arrested on December 26th. I know Christmas can be hard, but do you really need to get smashed and then drive? Every time some dumb actress (let’s be honest, more often than not it’s an under-30 actress) drinks her body weight in cosmos, I always ask the heavens why she can’t pay $20 for a cab, or call a friend, or hire a driver. After enough idiots doing this, you start to realize that they absolutely can and they absolutely know that – they’re doing it for attention. And they get it.

A big part of me feels we shouldn’t be reporting on these stories anymore, simply because it seems to encourage these morons. There is no longer this sense of shame – you don’t see most of them issuing statements about how embarrassed and ashamed they are, while quickly being photographed doing volunteer work or rescuing puppies from sewers or anything. They just bask in the attention – especially actresses that were starting to drift towards obscurity, like Mischa Barton. I’m not even going to go through the motions of the whole “I hope you learn your lesson and get help” thing, because we all know this is probably for show. “All the other cool girls are swerving in traffic, why can’t I?” Mischa Barton, I hope you get Paris Hilton’s judge. And I hope he’s cranky.

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s Mischa at the Save the Children’s 75th Anniversary Celebration at Lincoln Center on September 6th. Images thanks to PR Photos.