QUICK TAKES - Jan. 17, 2009

Singer Boy George was sentenced to 15 months in prison 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 Club front man, whose real name is George O’Dowd, was guilty of “gratuitous violence.”

The singer had been convicted in December of handcuffing Norwegian escort Audun Carlsen to a wall hook at his East London apartment. During the trial, prosecutors said Carlsen was held by O’Dowd for under an hour.

O’Dowd’s lawyer said his client and the escort had both behaved like “drug-crazed idiots” and that O’Dowd’s substance abuse problems were a contributing factor.

In 2006, Boy George -- whose pop band’s hits included “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me” and “Karma Chameleon” -- did community service with New York City’s Department of Sanitation after he called police with a false report of a burglary at his lower Manhattan apartment and officers found cocaine there.