BOY GEORGE

Imagine for a moment if, say, Robbie Williams had dragged a female escort across the floor of his house before handcuffing her to a wall and beating her with a chain. His career would be over, permanently. His reputation would be plunged to a level only a couple of rungs higher than that of Gary Glitter. He would be shunned.Compare this with what's happened to Boy George. Many gay people reacted to his incarceration with shock and disgust, throwing parties and club nights in his honour, as if he were a martyr, an Oscar Wilde figure. The justice system reacted by allowing him to serve just four months of his 15-month sentence. The publicly funded BBC reacted by inviting the star, after his release, to appear on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross, (where O'Dowd laughed and joked about his time in prison). And Ross, as ever asking the questions the public would like to pose, probed him about everything other than his despicable crime. Boy George had been forgiven. And not just because he has a good line in hats, quips and pathos-drenched lyrics. Not just because he is an apparently cuddly "out" gay man who once said he preferred a cup of tea to sex. But for the simple reason that his victim was male.

The Guardian
Dec 24 2009