Pop star Boy George will mentor finalists on American Idol this week for the 80s theme. “I’ve had a heartwarming time working with the kids from Idol,” the 53-year-old singer told Billboard. George is best known as the lead singer and songwriter of Culture Club, who performed hit songs including Do You Really Want To Hurt Me, Karma Chameleon, and I’ll Tumble For Ya. The band is back together — kicking off a US tour this summer and releasing their first album (Tribes) since 1999!
While George said he really enjoyed giving advice to the Idol kids, there’s one young star he won’t give advice to — Justin Bieber. “What Justin Bieber’s going through now, I can relate,” said George. (Boy George hit rock bottom in the 2000s including an addiction to heroin and jail time.) “But I imagine if I tried giving him advice, he’d laugh in my face. As I would have done. Anyone who warned me, ‘Son, you know where this is going to end up,’ I would have said, ‘Oh, fuck off – what do you know?'” George got sober in 2008 for good.
