Boy George Sweeps Away Community Service

Former Culture Club singer Boy George has finished his court-ordered community service. After sweeping the dirty streets of New York, a sunburned and blistered Boy George was ready to get back to his life.

Boy George's court-ordered community service came after an incident in October, when he reported a burglary at his Manhattan apartment and police found drugs and drug paraphernalia. Boy George, whose real name is George O'Dowd, was given a $1000 fine and was sentenced to community service, though he avoided doing the service set down by the judge. The judge issued an arrest warrant for Boy George, though he showed up in court ten days later and the judge waived the arrest warrant. Instead, George was ordered to clean some of the dirtiest streets in New York. While doing so, Boy George was surrounded by reporters, which set off quite the outburst from the singer.

Now that Boy George has finished his community service, we was willing to speak to reporters and had nothing but praise for his former bosses. The Seattle P.I. quoted Boy George as saying "They treated us with kindness, and they treated us with respect."

Boy George's manager, Jeremy Pearce, was quoted by the BBC as confessing "It was hard work but he seemed to almost enjoy it." He was so taken by the respect shown from his bosses that Boy George is considering a concert to benefit the city's street cleaners.

Pearce went on to say "I think they liked him because he was so down to earth. He came in on time, he was very co-operative and he did what he had to do.I'm told that he made the best of the situation and he did his work."

"He just kind of took to it. He did it very conscientiously. He liked the people he was working with, both those who were doing community service and the people who ran the Sanitation Department, who were very fair. It was hard work but he seemed to almost enjoy it. He put his back into it and did a good job."

Now that Boy George is done his stint of community service, what is he to do next? George O'Dowd confessed to reporters, "I'm going to go off and have a glass of champagne."

Boy George became a pop icon back in the 1980s with the band Culture Club, which produced such memorable hits as "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me", "Karma Chameleon", "It's a Miracle", "Church of the Poisoned Mind", and "Time". Boy George also went on the have later success as a club DJ in Europe, but it was his earlier struggles with drugs that led to the demise of the Culture Club. In recent years, Boy George reunited with his Culture Club bandmates for a series of tours throughout the U.S. and Europe.

[Additional Sources: BBC, Seattle P.I.]