Dee
08-15-2006, 04:24 AM
Boy George reports for 5 days trash duty (http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/14082006/2/entertainment-boy-george-reports-5-days-trash-duty-think-re.html)
NEW YORK (AP) - With a city-issued broom in his hand, Boy George started his court-ordered community service early Monday, sweeping the streets for the Department of Sanitation and getting in a dust-up with the media.
It took less than an hour for the former Culture Club frontman to get into a spat with reporters.
"You think you're better than me?" he yelled. "Go home. Let me do my community service."
The 45-year-old singer was swarmed by reporters and photographers while he stood by the median of a Lower East Side street. He used his broom to sweep dust and leaves into the lens of a video camera.
"This is supposed to be making me humble. Let me do this," he said. "I just want to do my job."
His sweeping, interrupted by the confrontation, later resumed in a gated sanitation parking lot.
"This is for everyone's safety," deputy sanitation chief Albert Durrell said as photographers crowded outside the gate. He said the day's work also might include mopping inside the depot.
Boy George appeared to be in good spirits during a late-morning break, waving to reporters on the other side of a chain-link fence and yelling, How are you? before returning to work.
A short time later, at the start of his hourlong lunch break, the singer approached the fence and asked for a cigarette and light from one of the news photographers.
Boy George took to the streets of Manhattan as a Department of Sanitation worker wearing an orange vest, dark capri pants, shoes without socks, and without the wild makeup and androgynous style that made him so recognizable as the '80s icon who sang Karma Chameleon and Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?
The singer, born George O'Dowd, was ordered to spend five days working for the Department of Sanitation after pleading guilty in March to falsely reporting a burglary at his lower Manhattan apartment. The officers who responded found cocaine instead.
In June, Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Anthony Ferrara issued a warrant for his arrest after he initially failed to complete the requirements of his plea deal. When he appeared in court 10 days later, Ferrara called off the warrant but warned the singer he could not escape his community service commitment.
"It's up to you whether you make it an exercise in humiliation or in humility," Ferrara said.
Boy George initially envisioned a service project more in line with his status as an '80s icon.
He petitioned to spend the time helping teenagers make a public service announcement. Among his other proposals to the court: holding a fashion and makeup workshop, serving as a DJ at an HIV/AIDS benefit or doing telephone outreach.
Boy George's manager, Jeremy Pearce, told reporters shortly after the singer arrived for his first day on the job: "He doesn't show any kind of emotion about these things. He takes it in his stride."
"He doesn't need to be humiliated," Pearce said. "He's a humble person."
NEW YORK (AP) - With a city-issued broom in his hand, Boy George started his court-ordered community service early Monday, sweeping the streets for the Department of Sanitation and getting in a dust-up with the media.
It took less than an hour for the former Culture Club frontman to get into a spat with reporters.
"You think you're better than me?" he yelled. "Go home. Let me do my community service."
The 45-year-old singer was swarmed by reporters and photographers while he stood by the median of a Lower East Side street. He used his broom to sweep dust and leaves into the lens of a video camera.
"This is supposed to be making me humble. Let me do this," he said. "I just want to do my job."
His sweeping, interrupted by the confrontation, later resumed in a gated sanitation parking lot.
"This is for everyone's safety," deputy sanitation chief Albert Durrell said as photographers crowded outside the gate. He said the day's work also might include mopping inside the depot.
Boy George appeared to be in good spirits during a late-morning break, waving to reporters on the other side of a chain-link fence and yelling, How are you? before returning to work.
A short time later, at the start of his hourlong lunch break, the singer approached the fence and asked for a cigarette and light from one of the news photographers.
Boy George took to the streets of Manhattan as a Department of Sanitation worker wearing an orange vest, dark capri pants, shoes without socks, and without the wild makeup and androgynous style that made him so recognizable as the '80s icon who sang Karma Chameleon and Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?
The singer, born George O'Dowd, was ordered to spend five days working for the Department of Sanitation after pleading guilty in March to falsely reporting a burglary at his lower Manhattan apartment. The officers who responded found cocaine instead.
In June, Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Anthony Ferrara issued a warrant for his arrest after he initially failed to complete the requirements of his plea deal. When he appeared in court 10 days later, Ferrara called off the warrant but warned the singer he could not escape his community service commitment.
"It's up to you whether you make it an exercise in humiliation or in humility," Ferrara said.
Boy George initially envisioned a service project more in line with his status as an '80s icon.
He petitioned to spend the time helping teenagers make a public service announcement. Among his other proposals to the court: holding a fashion and makeup workshop, serving as a DJ at an HIV/AIDS benefit or doing telephone outreach.
Boy George's manager, Jeremy Pearce, told reporters shortly after the singer arrived for his first day on the job: "He doesn't show any kind of emotion about these things. He takes it in his stride."
"He doesn't need to be humiliated," Pearce said. "He's a humble person."