Boy George charged over cocaine find

GAY icon Boy George faces a battle to save his lavish New York home and career as a top DJ if he is convicted on charges of possessing cocaine, a leading lawyer has said.

The 44-year-old ex-Culture Club frontman, whose real name is George O’Dowd, has protested his innocence but will effectively be excluded from America if found guilty.

George, whose family is from Tipperary, was arrested in the Big Apple on Friday by police responding to a report the singer made of a burglary at his luxury Manhattan home. It is alleged they found an amount of cocaine near a computer and more elsewhere in the apartment.

Human rights lawyer Mark Stephens said: “Boy George is innocent until proved guilty but if he’s found guilty it could have major implications for him to be allowed into the US.

“They treat drug convictions very seriously in America.”

George moved to the United States when his musical Taboo - based on a club night in 1980s’ London - moved to Broadway.

He first caught the public’s imagination in the 1980s when his group Culture Club shot to chart success with the single Do You Really Want To Hurt Me? The classic release Karma Chameleon followed and their album Colour By Numbers sold in huge numbers. But he suffered a well-publicised heroin addiction in the 80s, later recovering to pursue a career as a DJ.

George’s former agent Tony Denton said after speaking to the singer’s sister, Siobhan, that the star denied the drug was his.

Manhattan District Attorney’s office spokeswoman Barbara Thompson said the singer was released after being charged with possession of a controlled substance, allegedly more than an eighth of an ounce (five grams) of cocaine.

The charge carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.

Mr Denton said that police had not taken the singer’s passport.

“At the moment, he can go in and out of the US as he feels.”