Events in the jungle took a chill when A Place in the Sun presenter and fellow campmate Scarlett Douglas asked Boy George about his past criminal conviction on I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out here! Referring to the case, she asked the Culture Club musicians: "You BG, what happened to a guy with handcuffs and a radiator?" But what exactly was she referring to?
In 2009, Boy George (born George O'Dowd) was convicted of assaulting and falsely imprisoning Norwegian model Odan Carlsen. At the subsequent trial, Judge David Radford said the singer was guilty of "gratuitous violence" and sentenced him to 15 months in prison, saying the offense was "so serious that only an immediate custodial sentence would be appropriate" Reasonable". The musician was released from prison after four months on good behavior.
Boy George claimed that he detained Carlson against his will because he suspected Carlson of hacking into his laptop during an earlier meeting, although he admitted to police that he kept Carlson while they investigated the allegations. Sen was handcuffed to the bed but he denied beating him. He also claimed he was suffering from drug-induced psychosis at the time of the incident and denied guilt.
"While I accept that Mr Carlson's physical injuries were not serious or permanent, there is no doubt in my mind that the conduct you inflicted on Mr Carlson was premeditated, callous and humiliating," Redford said in closing. The handcuffs and detention were shocking, humiliating and traumatic," according to The Guardian.
Meanwhile, while discussing Jungle Conviction, Boy George denied various elements of the story. "The handcuffs are real, but the radiator part isn't real, but thanks for bringing it up," he said, labeling parts of the story "folklore."
"I don't think I would be working right now if this were true," Boy George told Scarlett. "I don't even know what the whole story is, I just remember hearing 'handcuffs and radiators,'" Scarlett replied. "Well done, I know what the whole story is," George said. "Scarlett, the best way to explain my story is that if I assaulted someone, that would be the photo. But no, because it didn't happen."
"When you beat someone up, the first thing the police do is take a picture and show it in court. There's no picture because I didn't do it. But I did do one thing. I did put handcuffs on him, Yes," he claimed. "Because I handcuffed the guy who had already assaulted him. So, when I said, 'I did it,' I thought, I'm going to tell the truth and they're going to let me go home. I was in jail for four Months. I was followed for four months.”
The singer appeared frustrated by the exchange, despite speaking out on the show about his past with controversial former health secretary Matt Hancock.
"Scarlett spoke blatantly about my court case. In fact, I think what she did was inappropriate," he later told the Bush Telegraph. "I don't think she should have said those things to me. I think I handled it well because it's a big sore point for me when people say things like that."
Meanwhile, Carlson criticized ITV for casting Boy George on the show, telling The Mirror : "I think giving him such a platform and a record fee sends the wrong message to survivors of violence and abuse," he told The Mirror. And it’s completely wrong.”
Victim Support is a charity that provides support and assistance to people affected by crime.
