Faced by a barrage of questions and flashing cameras on his first day of community service street cleaning in New York, the former Culture Club frontman snarled, “You think you’re better than me? Go home. Let me do my community service.”
But at some point he developed a sense of humor about the ordeal, mugging for the cameras. This was the Boy George that should have left the starting gate, for the bad attitude and failure to appear in court earlier in the year only instilled in the media a sense of schadenfreude when he set out to begin his chore.
George’s manager Jeremy Pearce said things worked out in the end: “He liked the people he was working with, both those who were doing community service and the people who ran the Sanitation Department, who were very fair. It was hard work but he seemed to almost enjoy it. He put his back into it and did a good job. I think people were quite surprised. I think they thought he was going to be a diva.”
Boy George says he’ll throw a party for New York’s sanitation workers but had a first order of business: “I’m going to go off and have a huge glass of champagne.”
Now there’s someone we recognize. I think everyone’s glad this chapter is closed.
