The Voice: Boy George and Kelly Rowland’s heated clash

Boy George snapped on The Voice after Kelly Rowland encouraged one of her contestants to “cheat” during his performance.

A “cheating” scandal prompted a fiery confrontation between Boy George and Kelly Rowland on Sunday night’s episode of The Voice.

Tensions between the two coaches reached boiling point as Boy George slammed the former Destiny’s Child member for allowing one of her contestants to perform an original song in the Knockout Round of the competition, rather than a cover.

Rapper Denzel, who admitted to TV WEEK in May that he can’t sing, was originally told to perform This is America by Childish Gambino, but Kelly changed her mind after watching him rehearse and told him to perform an original rap song instead.

“It didn’t really sit right with me having Denzel rap someone else’s song,” Kelly said on The Voice.

Denzel was up against fellow ‘Team Kelly’ members Elsa Clement and Amanuael Visser in the Knockout, with Kelly only able to send one of the three through to the next round.

Elsa, Denzel and Amanuael were all on ‘Team Kelly’.

After all three performed, Denzel admitted to the other coaches that the rap he had performed was an original, and Boy George was clearly unimpressed.

“It’s kind of naughty,” the Culture Club singer said, pointing out the fact the other two performers had to sing cover songs.

Kelly defended her decision, saying, “When it comes to hip hop specifically … you can’t rap somebody else’s feelings … it doesn’t make any sense”.

Guy Sebastian said he agreed with Kelly but Delta Goodrem was almost as outraged as Boy George.

“That’s not fair,” Delta said. “I am all for original music … but there is about 40 other people in this competition who would kill to sing their original so why should we just say Denzel can do it?”

Boy George asked the other two singers up against Denzel how they felt and when they both sided with Kelly, he lost his cool.

“Step up, guys, come on!” he yelled. “Don’t just be compliant.

“We’re trying to look for an even playing field … this is a knockout, guys, it’s a competition. It’s not about, ‘Let’s all agree with Kelly.’

“I mean, Amanuael, I was expecting some proper sass and you’re agreeing with Kelly when she’s completely wrong and it might mean that you’re going home! Everyone’s been breaking the rules this year, everyone!”

Boy George continued the beef on social media as the episode aired tonight:

Still waiting to find out if my Artists can sing an original song...? #TheVoiceAU

— Boy George (@BoyGeorge) June 16, 2019

For once I agree with @BoyGeorge! There will be songs that can’t be rapped they need to be sung #FollowTheRulesKelly #TheVoiceAU

— ShootingStar (@GoodremFan) June 16, 2019

I'm so late to the party tonight but @BoyGeorge is right, letting an artist sing their own song is cheating and not fair #TheVoiceAU

— Grace Ashford (@ggraceashford) June 16, 2019

Maybe she got Denzel to perform an original and not the others cause she didn’t know if the other two could do original songs and didn’t want them being pressured. Denzel is capable which is why she’s pushing him. #TheVoiceAU

— The Simon K Show #SaveBBUK #ThankYouDean 🎂 (@86TB) June 16, 2019

Why is Denzel on there?? No hate towards him or his artistry but it's called The Voice, not The Rap #TheVoiceAU

— emily 💕 (@sangrialovato) June 16, 2019

All these ppl complaining about Denzel doing an original aren’t thinking straight. That’s how @TheVoiceAU will get an artist that will sell records. If you love his original songs you’ll buy his album. Good job @KELLYROWLAND #TheVoiceAU

— Speak Out (@reallifeslay) June 16, 2019

Not surprisingly, when it came time for Kelly to pick which contestant she was sending through to the next round, she chose Denzel.

Will Denzel perform original rap songs every week on The Voice?

All the coaches then had the opportunity to ‘save’ Elsa and Amanuael from being eliminated from the competition, with both Guy and Kelly hitting their buzzer for Elsa.

Kelly pleaded with Elsa to stay on her team, saying, “I really want us to pick up where we left off. You are bigger than life and I don’t know if you truly, truly know that”.

And Boy George couldn’t help but scoff at Kelly’s comment, telling Elsa: “And if you fall for that you’ll fall for anything. I mean please, come on. You just got rid of her.”

Elsa chose to ditch Kelly as her coach and join ‘Team Guy’, and when she ran into Denzel backstage she said: “Clearly she (Kelly) wanted to work with you, so I was like, nah man”.

When the fiery spat came to an end, Kelly was visibly angry and told a producer, “I was really upset for a second … I felt attacked”.

The episode also saw this season’s favourite, Jack Vidgen, remain in the competition after he defeated fellow ‘Team Guy’ members Jordy Marcs and Lara Dabbagh in a Knockout battle.

The decision was a tough one for Guy who broke down in tears afterwards and said to two singers he didn’t pick, “Can I please still be in your lives?”

“What an idiot, I’m so sorry,” he said as he wiped tears from his eyes. “I’m so embarrassed.”

Jordy was booted from the show, Lara was saved by Kelly and Jack went through to the next round.

The Voice continues on Monday night at 7.30pm on Channel 9