Badpuppy Gay Today

Tuesday, 13 May 1997

Boy George, taking the witness stand, faced a "malicious falsehood" charge brought against him by singer, Kirk Brandon, with whom he shared a bed over twenty years ago. Brandon, now married and a father, denies that he once had a sexual relationship with George, as is claimed in Take It Like a Man, George's autobiography. The irate accuser insists that although the two young men had shared a bed for a time, there had been no erotic activity between them as is said in the book. Justice Douglas Brown found Brandon's testimony unconvincing.

George's witnesses testified that Brandon and he had had what was called "a brief, passionate and turbulent physical homosexual affair" in the months between 1980-81. In this period, Boy George was 19-20 years old. The witnesses said they'd seen the two behaving happily like "a couple" and the trial judge found such testimony to be "overwhelming evidence" that there had been, in fact, such a relationship.

Brandon, currently without funds, now owes 200,000 pounds for representing himself in court against Boy George and three publishers: Virgin Records, EMI Virgin Music and Sidgwick and Jackson. Even so, he says, he's not through suing. He'll try again rather than accepting the judge's decision. He is not prepared, as observers have noted, to "Take It Like a Man."

During the months the two young men shared their bed, a fact which Brandon did not deny, Justice Brown says he finds it difficult to believe that George had not, during that period, made sexual overtures to the friend he then adored. The judge said that the witnesses testimonies indicated that Brandon had "inclinations" and these in concert with "opportunities" in their shared bed gave strong inferences that "their relationship was sexual." Take It Like a Man tells how Boy George and Kirk Brandon enjoyed "100 nights of love."

The judge told Brandon that although he felt him to be a decent and talented man, that he felt Brandon had lied about his relationship with George. In court, tears filled Boy George's eyes when Justice Brown said, "Mr. O'Dowd was clearly not malicious in stating that which he knew to be true...the allegations of malice are quite hopeless and should never have been brought."

During the trial, Boy George had claimed that Kirk Brandon had been the love of his life and that he still loved him. After the verdict, however, he said that he now feels nothing for Brandon, whose "lies" had hurt a number of people.

The judge completed his verdict saying that the relationship between George and Brandon had been a "sad case" but that it would not have arrived in court had George not gone on to become famous for "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?" and "Karma Chameleon."