HERE’S this week’s question. Is forgiveness still possible in the 21st century? It occurred to me while listening to Boy George on the latest episode of This Cultural Life on Radio 4 (Saturday and Monday).
These days whenever the front man of Culture Club turns up in social media it doesn’t take long before someone will remind us that, back at the height of his drug problems in 2007, the pop star handcuffed a Norwegian male escort, Audun Carlsen, to a wall.
This is not an allegation. It did happen. And in 2009, Boy George was sentenced to 15 months in prison for assault and false imprisonment. He ended up serving four months, before being released for good behaviour, though he had to wear an electronic tag for the remainder of his sentence.
This low point in Boy George’s life inevitably came up during an otherwise good-natured discussion between the singer and John Wilson on This Cultural Life. When it did, George greeted its arrival with a mixture of defensiveness and exasperation.
“It was 17 years ago,” he pointed out. Referring to his recent memoir Karma, he added: “In the book I say to the person, ‘Get on with your life. It’s so long ago now. You can’t just keep bringing it up every time something good happens to me.’”
(Carlsen has spoken out in the past whenever Boy George got a prominent job on The Voice and I’m a Celebrity …) His dismissiveness towards his victim did jar. Carlsen has said he is still traumatised over the incident. But then George also reminded listeners: “I paid for my crime and went to prison.”
And I guess this is the crux of it. Can we accept he has been punished or must we keep charging him in the court of public opinion? “I can’t keep paying,” George added, “and I’ve apologised.”
It should be pointed out that most of the interview inevitably dwelt on George’s time as a pop star in the 1980s, his meetings with Andy Warhol and Quentin Crisp (there was a delightful piece of archive footage of Crisp speaking) and the sudden arrival of fame.
READ MORE: Celtic Connections: Simon Neil & Roddy Hart search for Scotland's soul
It’s now hard to quite recapture how much of a surprise it was when Culture Club turned up on Top of the Pops that first time. And how it discomfited so many, simply because of Boy George’s androgynous look.
“I didn’t really get why people were so freaked out by what I was doing but I also liked it,” he admitted to Wilson. There speaks someone who understands the job spec of being a pop star.
In truth, I’ve had quite a 1980s week all round, what with marathon sessions of Top of the Pops repeats on BBC Four and singing along to Sunshine on Leith and The Whole of the Moon at this year’s Roaming Roots Revue at Celtic Connections last Saturday night.
Heading home that night I turned on the radio and caught Billy Sloan on Radio Scotland. He was playing a new track by the cultiest of 1980s cult Glasgow bands, James King and the Lonewolves. For a moment I wondered if I’d been whisked back in time to 1985. I wouldn’t have minded that to be honest.
Back on Radio 4, Boy George had a different opinion. “Now is everything, kids. Move on.”
He’s probably right.
I missed Radio 1’s tribute to the late Annie Nightingale on January 14 the weekend after her death but it is still available on BBC Sounds and it’s worth a listen if only for the abundant love for Nightingale it was steeped in, from both the presenters Clara Amfo, Lauren Laverne and Martha and the guests who lined up to pay tribute.
There can’t be many DJs who would prompt artists as diverse as Goldie, The Who’s Pete Townshend and Underworld’s Karl Hyde to all line up to say how much they owed to her. And there wouldn’t be many other tributes to 83-year-old DJs that would end by playing a bit of Skrillex.
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