Boy George brushes off media intrusion
“It’s supposed to me making me humble. Why don’t you just let me do it,” George told photographers.
A judge had sentenced him to five days of community service in March for falsely reporting a burglary. It was part of a plea deal that allowed him to escape more serious charges of drug possession.
George, the cross-dressing front man for the chart-topping 1980s British pop band Culture Club, traded his costumes for dark sunglasses, gloves and an orange safety vest.
The singer turned club DJ was cleaning up a public garage in the gentrified Lower East Side of downtown Manhattan, the city’s Department of Sanitation said.
“He’s cleaning inside the Manhattan garage of district three,” department spokeswoman Kathy Dawkins said.
“He came in this morning on time at seven o’clock. He checked in. We attempted to put him on the street, as the court had mandated, but there was a concern for public safety due to the number of journalists following the pop star, she said.
“He’s going to be with us until Friday. He’s working a seven to three day.”
The 45-year-old singer, whose real name is George O’Dowd, was sentenced after pleading guilty in March to filing a false police report over a non-existent burglary.
But the singer’s stint sweeping the streets of Manhattan was over within half an hour, after he was mobbed by media as he tried to brush leaves and put litter in bins.
By 7.50am (12.50pm Irish time) the musician — real name George O’Dowd — and his two fellow workers had been returned to the sanitation department’s garage, where he worked instead in the car park, behind a fence but still in full view.
Earlier he unleashed a barrage of angry rants at reporters, at one point sweeping a pile of leaves angrily towards cameras.
“This is supposed to be community service,” he said at one point.
“You’re just making it a nightmare which just means it’s for the media and not for me.”
Asked if he thought his punishment was unfair, he replied: “It’s not unfair. It’s just impractical having you f**king chasing me around. F**k off. Go away.”
In a spat with one reporter, O’Dowd snapped: “Who needs to get a f**king life, me or you? You think you’re better than me? Kiss my ass.”
Boy George was warned by a judge in June that he faced jail if he refused to comply with the terms of the community service.
The singer had balked at the idea of sweeping leaves, arguing that his talent could be better used organising a music event to benefit AIDS charities.
“It would have been more useful to make 30 grand with a concert, rather than be prancing around in a park,” he said.
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