I think it's because George Michael died, and somehow it seems more plausible to our memory that it would've been Boy George who died.

He did go to prison for awhile after abducting and sexually assaulting someone while on a drug bender.

Pretty sure he's just become openly right wing in the last couple years, you might have heard of something he said recently and written him off as "dead to me" and a year or so later just legitimately thought he was dead