bad behavior

The guy who Boy George imprisoned isn’t happy about his new reality TV appearance

Boy George, Get Me Out of Here I'm a Celebrity, Audun Carlsen, kidnapping, assault, false imprisonment, felony, New,York,,Ny,-,May,03,,2014:,Boy,George,Attends
Boy George in 2014

Boy George, the English pop musician who regularly wears androgynous glam-rock fashions, has been cast in the most recent season of the British reality TV competition I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here.

But while it might sound like fun to watch Boy George and other celebrities struggle to survive in the jungle wilderness, one person especially despises the idea: the male escort that Boy George allegedly imprisoned and beat in his apartment.

“I still see the monster that he is every time I see him,” Norwegian model and male escort Audun Carlsen recently told The Mirror.

In April 2007, Carlsen met Boy George (whose birth name is George O’Dowd) off of a gay social network for an erotic photoshoot inside of O’Dowd’s east London apartment.

When the two men met a second time, O’Dowd believed that Carlsen had stolen personal photos from his laptop. So, Carlsen said that O’Dowd and his friend handcuffed Carlsen to a bed and proceeded to beat him with a metal chain in the interest of recovering the photos — Carlsen denied ever taking anything from O’Dowd. O’Dowd denied ever beating Carlsen.

In December 2008, a British court convicted O’Dowd for Carlsen’s false imprisonment and assault. The musician partially blamed his actions on a cocaine bender mixed with a psychotic episode, but the court sentenced him to 15 years in prison and ordered him to pay Carlsen £5,000 (about $5,766).

The judge in the case said, “Whilst I accept that Mr. Carlsen’s physical injuries were not serious or permanent, in my view there can be no doubt that your premeditated callous and humiliating handcuffing and detention of Mr. Carlsen shocked, degraded, and traumatized him.”

O’Dowd served only 4 months in prison and was released early due to good behavior.

Now, fast forward nearly 14 years later: Boy George was reportedly paid at least £500,000 (nearly $576,542) to appear in the aforementioned reality show.

“Had I been a woman and he did what he did, he would never have been given the platform,” Carlsen said, criticizing the musician’s booking on the show. “I think giving him this sort of platform and a record fee sends the wrong message to survivors of violence and abuse and is plain wrong.”

Carlsen noted that if Boy George dislikes being in the wilderness during the show, the musician can just say “I’m a celebrity… get me out of here.”

“I couldn’t do that when I was chained to his wall,” Carlsen said.

Boy George’s representative told Metro that the musician served his time and “has he been a pillar of society” who has remained sober ever since.

“We are very proud of him for his rehabilitation,” the spokesperson added. “Everyone is entitled to a second chance and George has certainly earned it.”

The show’s new season premiered in Britain on November 6.

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