Boy George was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment in 2009
Richard Madeley has criticised this year’s I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! contestants for not grilling Boy George about his past stint in prison.
In 2009, Boy George was convicted of assault and false imprisonment after he was found guilty of handcuffing Norwegian model and male escort Audun Carlsen to a wall fixture and beating him with a metal chain.
The ‘Karma Chameleon’ singer was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment for the incident.
However, four months into his sentence, George was released from prison for good behaviour.
George has previously addressed the incident and said he was high on cocaine and having a psychotic episode at the time.
Richard Madeley has now suggested that the singer’s campmates on I’m A Celeb should be questioning him more about the incident, in teh same way they have scrutinised Matt Hancock for his previous scandals.
He said to his Good Morning Britain co-presenter Susanna Reid: “He’s not been questioned about it. He chained someone to a radiator for a very long time and beat them up.”
When Susanna pointed out that Boy George “denies the beating” to which Richard responded: “Well he was convicted and spent four months in prison and no one has mentioned it to him at all.”
He added: “I wonder if that’s because they’ve forgotten it.”
Susanna reminded him that it happened “more than 10 years ago”.
“Yeah. He says it was a psychotic episode partly fuelled by drugs, that’s his rationale,” Richard added.
Carlsen has slammed ITV for booking Boy George on this year’s series of I’m A Celeb.
After the news that the singer had been booked to appear on the series of Carlsen said it “sends the wrong message to survivors of violence and abuse and is plain wrong.”
A spokesman for Boy George said: “George went to jail for four months willingly after openly confessing to false imprisonment during a psychotic break 15 years ago whilst in the midst of a well documented drug problem.
“Not only has he been a pillar of society ever since, but he also remains sober to this day.
“He apologised publicly on Piers Morgan’s Life Stories and we are very proud of him for his rehabilitation.
“Everyone is entitled to a second chance and George has certainly earned it.”
An ITV source also told Mail Online: “This is a historic, spent conviction dating back 12 years and Boy George has appeared on major TV networks globally on numerous occasions over the last decade, including as a coach for The Voice UK on the BBC and The Voice Australia.”
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