‘The Voice’ Coach Boy George Storms Offstage After Heated Exchange With Contestant

Culture Club singer Boy George shocked viewers of The Voice Australia by walking out of the show Sunday night during a testy exchange with a contestant during the show’s blind auditions phase.

Daniel Shaw, 20, just finished a performance of “Beneath Your Beautiful” with a piano. All the coaches hit their “I Want You” buttons, which was good news for Shaw. But then George asked the singer if he could play guitar.

“I can play guitar but no one really cares if I play guitar,” Shaw replied.

“No one cares?” a stunned George said. “I do.”

He then looked away from Shaw, telling him to go with coach Delta Goodrem before he picked up his phone and walked off the set while coach Guy Sebastian tried to give his thoughts on Shaw’s performance.

The cameras then cut to follow the “Karma Chameleon” singer behind the set. Executive producer Leigh Aramberri found George, who told him to stop following.

“I’m annoyed,” George told Aramberri. “Turns around, tells me, ‘Who cares if I play guitar.’ [Expletive] That’s not cool.”

Aramberri tried to convince George to return to the set, but he just said, “F– off.”

George was back in his seat for Monday’s episode, claiming he misheard Shaw’s comments, reports News.com.au.

“So I just went down and saw George out, he was upset about what the artist had said to him,” Aremberri told Goodrem, Sebastian and Kelly Rowland. “He kind of thought he was giving him an opportunity to talk about the guitar and then the artist said ‘no-one cares if I play guitar,’ Daniel said that, and it just struck a nerve with George.”

Sebastian said he did not think Shaw meant anything by his comment.

“I tried to explain it to George but he just needs a little bit of time to cool down … I think he’s having a tough time because there’s no-one on his team yet,” Amberri continued. “I think he’s just struggling with that a little bit so we’ll just let him have a bit of space. He’s fine, he just needs time to cool down.”

A short time later, George tried to laugh off the whole incident, insisting he just misheard what Shaw said.

“I’m good, I’m good I just misheard what was said and I just went, you know when you just go in the moment,” George told Aramberri. “I’m kind of fine now and I’m a bit embarrassed … I’m cool, I’m not annoyed but I was just annoyed in the moment.”

George once again apologized, calling it a “bit of a diva moment.”

“I’m back and I’m ready to fight now, I’m going to have fun,” he added. “Passion it just takes you to somewhere, sometimes you care too much but I don’t think that’s a bad thing, I think that it’s a good thing.”

The Voice airs on Channel 9 in Australia. Meanwhile, the final episodes of The Voice U.S.‘ ongoing season air Monday at 8 p.m. ET and Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.

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