Bad Boy George in Trouble Again

Boy George was arrested after allegedly chaining a male escort to a wall.

ByABC News
May 2, 2007, 7:25 AM

May 2, 2007 — -- From the hallows of Boy George's East London flat came the cries of a male escort: Do you really want to hurt me?

Well, maybe not those exact words, but when 28-year-old Auden Carlsen emerged from an East London flat, half-naked and breathless early Saturday morning, he told local authorities he feared for his life, according to a report in the British tabloid the Daily Mirror.

A story in another local tabloid, the Sun, said that Carlsen claimed that Boy George, the ex-Culture Club star, and another man allegedly held him down and chained him to a wall after the singer invited him back to his home in Shoreditch. He escaped and alerted police at around 6:30 a.m., the story said.

"George handcuffed me to a hook by the bed as they held me down," Carlsen told the Sun. The Norwegian escort then alleged that George produced a box of sex toys and whips saying, "Now you'll get what you deserve," according to the British tabloid.

The singer was arrested and taken to a London police station shortly thereafter.

Metropolitan police refused to comment on the identities of the men involved; however, a police spokesman told ABCNEWS.com: "We have arrested a man in his 40s on the allegation of false imprisonment and common assault made by a 28-year-old male. No one has been formally charged, but the matter remains under investigation."

George -- whose real name is George O'Dowd -- was later freed on bail.

According to the Sun, Carlsen told police he met the '80s icon on a Web site called Gaydar -- a dating service for gay men -- and agreed to go back to George's flat at around midnight to pose as a model in exchange for $800. He claimed he did not act as an escort.

At around 5 a.m., George told Carlsen he was "popping out for milk," according to the Sun, and when he returned Carlsen said George and another man jumped on him and handcuffed him to a hook by the singer's bed.

"This is just another chapter in Boy George's wild life," said Paula Jones, deputy editor of Revealed magazine.

"He's gone from a sexish-cuddly cross-dresser in the '80s to the front pages of the tabloids for serious drug problems."

But despite George's run-ins with the law, the public's fascination with him is still strong 20 years after Culture Club's No. 1 single "Karma Cameleon" hit the charts.