Pop star Boy George handcuffed an HIV-positive Norwegian male escort to a wall and beat him with a chain after the escort refused to have sex with him, his trial in London heard on Wednesday.
The singer and disc jockey, 47, met Audun Carlsen on the gay Web site Gaydar, and Carlsen first went to his east London home in January last year, when they posed naked for a photoshoot and took cocaine.
Carlsen, 29, says Boy George performed a sex act on him for “five seconds before I said no.” The star later sent e-mails accusing the Norwegian of hacking into his computer, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.
But Carlsen still went back to Boy George’s home for a second photo shoot three months later.
He claims that when he arrived, the singer handcuffed him to a wall hook, called him a “whore,” punched him repeatedly and then beat him with a metal chain as he tried to flee.
Explaining why the attack happened, Carlsen told the court: “I think he couldn’t handle the refusal — me not having sex with him.”
He also accused Boy George — former frontman of 1980s band Culture Club, whose hits include Do You Really Want To Hurt Me? — of lying about him misusing his computer.
“It is a good plan. It is something he has said just to make some kind of excuse. That is all what it is about. It is a big lie,” he said.
Boy George, who is being tried under his real name of George O’Dowd, denies one charge of false imprisonment.
His lawyer Adrian Waterman accused Carlsen of exaggerating his story so he could sell it to the press. He said Carlsen’s injuries came from a choker used during the second photo shoot.
“All this stuff about ‘now you are going to get it’ and bondage equipment being brought in, that is all to make the story sound a little bit more sexy,” Waterman said while questioning Carlsen.
“You have lied to the police. You have tried to make this story sound more exciting. You have added details and you have sold your story to the press and have every intention of doing so again,” he said.
The police officer who arrested Boy George after Carlsen fled into the street wearing just underwear, a T-shirt and trainers said the singer seemed surprised to be detained, but was cooperative.
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