Boy George is set to carry out his five days of court-ordered community service with New York's sanitation department--starting Aug. 14 he'll spend his time tidying up city streets.
Apparently, they really do want to hurt him.
The former Culture Club crooner was sentenced to garbage patrol after pleading guilty to falsely reporting a burglary at his Manhattan apartment last October.
"This is the epitome of community service," Vito Turso, the sanitation department spokesman told the New York Daily News. "It's not like he's going to be working in an air-conditioned office.
Once the '80s pop icon, whose real name is George O'Dowd, is issued his plastic gloves and garbage bags, he will, Turso tells would-be looky-loos, likely end up on the streets of Chinatown, Little Italy or the Lower East Side.
"They go where we could use the assistance most--high-traffic areas need a lot of street sweeping," Turso told the Daily News. "We also send them to vacant lots and to sweep sidewalks."
The "Karma Chameleon" singer was initially slated to begin his service Aug. 7 but was granted a one week reprieve to work the sentence around his concert schedule abroad. Between court hearings, George has been performing small gigs around London.
Last month, the flamboyant singer received a public scolding (see, he has something else in common with Lohan) from Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Anthony Ferrara after failing to show at hearing to discuss why conditions of his probation--his community service and payment of a $1,000 fine--had yet to be completed.
"This is a simple matter," Ferrara said at the time. "Five days of community service. It's up to you as to whether it will be an exercise in humiliation or an exercise in humility."
The judge also warned the entertainer that if he does not served his full five day sentence by Aug. 28, he would be jailed.
Last October, New York's finest responded to a report of a burglary at George's Manhattan apartment and in lieu of an actual break-in, found 13 plastic bags of cocaine. The singer denied that the drugs were his, claiming one of his frequent guests must have left them behind.
In March, he finally changed his story and struck a deal with the D.A. to plead guilty to a lesser charge of a third-degree false reporting of an incident.
Boy George denied chance to appear on reality TV
Dec 23, 2009 3:00 am PST
A British court has blocked an attempt by former Culture Club singer Boy George to appear on a reality television show. The 48-year-old had hoped to appear on Channel 4's "Celebrity Big Brother" despite being on probation for assaulting a...
Boy George released from jail after serving four months
May 11, 2009 2:00 pm PDT
Culture Club singer Boy George has been released from jail after serving four months of an 18-month sentence for false imprisonment. The frontman, real name George O'Dowd, was given the sentence in January after being found guilty of deta...
Boy George sentenced to 15 months in jail
Jan 16, 2009 11:00 am PST
Former Culture Club frontman Boy George was sentenced on Friday to 15 months in jail after being found guilty last month of falsely imprisoning a Norwegian male escort. Tried under his real name George O'Dowd, the 47-year-old Briton d...
Boy George sentenced to 15 months
Jan 16, 2009 7:00 am PST
Singer Boy George was sentenced to 15 months in jail on Friday after being convicted of falsely imprisoning a male escort by handcuffing him to a wall in a London apartment. British Judge David Radford said the 47-year-old former Culture ...
Boy Oh Boy George: Singer Sentenced to 15 Months
Jan 16, 2009 7:00 am PST
Did they really want to jail him? Yes, as it turns out. Boy George was sentenced to 15 months in prison this morning, two months after a British court found him guilty of falsely imprisoning a male escort by tying him to his bed and beati...