Boy George [ tickets ] Cancels Tour Due To Visa Flap

Former Culture Club vocalist Boy George, who last week found his summer tour in jeopardy after being denied a US visa, has now had to scrap the run.

As previously reported, officials balked at granting the singer--whose real name is George O'Dowd--a visa because he is facing a trial in London for an April 2007 incident during which he is alleged to have assaulted a 28-year-old male escort, who reportedly claims O'Dowd chained him to a wall in O'Dowd's East London home.

"I was really hoping that the issue would be resolved and that some kind soul at the US Visa Office would realize that if the police in the UK placed no restrictions on my movements, that should have been good enough for them," O'Dowd, who has denied the charges against him, said in a prepared statement. "I am very sorry that I will not see all my American fans this year, but I wish them a happy and healthy Fourth of July. I include the Visa Office in those good wishes and realize they are doing a very difficult job and I just got unlucky."

O'Dowd plans to reschedule his North American dates for the winter of next year, according to a press release.