The Voice coach Boy George has hit back at claims he is a bad role model and should not be on telly.

George, 54, said critics should focus on his achievements and not his mistakes.

The Culture Club singer was jailed for 15 months in 2009 for false imprisonment of a rent boy – which his lawyers blamed on his drug addiction at the time.

But the star, who has had five Top 10 albums in a 30-year career, said: “I’ve done some amazing things. I wish people would focus on that rather than the things that went wrong.”

Read more: Boy George victim slams BBC for hiring singer as a mentor on The Voice

He said pop stars can be a positive influence, adding: “I’ve affected change by just being myself.

"Back in the 1980s there were places I couldn’t go, like Argentina, but my music and my personality broke down those borders and when I could finally go, people would say, ‘I came out because of you, I changed my sex because of you’.

George was jailed in 2009 for falsely imprisoning a male prostitute (
Image:
Getty)

Paying tribute to the BBC for hiring him for The Voice, he said: “I’m very pleased they took a chance on me.”

George, who tours with Culture Club this year, said he has learned from his mistakes.

He added: “If I was able to have the wisdom that I have now back then, what a luxury, not to make things into a drama that don’t need to be a drama.”