The star and director of the viral YouTube video Kony 2012 was suffering from severe exhaustion and dehydration when he was arrested Thursday night for allegedly being drunk and masturbating in public, his wife and charity says.
According to NBC and TMZ, Jason Russell, 33, was detained in Pacific Beach, Calif., at 11:30 a.m. for being drunk, publicly masturbating and vandalizing cars.
NBC reported that police responded to a call about a man in "various stages of undress." The San Diego Police Department did not immediately respond to QMI Agency's request for comment.
The CEO of Invisible Children, the charity Russell co-founded, said Russell was sick at the time.
"Jason Russell was unfortunately hospitalized (Thursday) suffering from exhaustion, dehydration, and malnutrition. He is now receiving medical care and is focused on getting better. The past two weeks have taken a severe emotional toll on all of us, Jason especially, and that toll manifested itself in an unfortunate incident (Thursday)," said Ben Keesey in a statement.
Russell's wife, Danica, released a statement late Friday saying the negative reaction to the film impacted her husband greatly.
"While that attention was great for raising awareness about Joseph Kony, it also brought a lot of attention to Jason — and, because of how personal the film is, many of the attacks against it were also very personal, and Jason took them very hard," Danica said in the statement.
Russell's Invisible Children, which calls for the arrest of Joseph Kony, the fugitive rebel leader of a Ugandan militia group known for using child soldiers, has quickly become a media sensation, netting more than 79 million views since it was posted on March 5.
But the video has also faced a huge amount of backlash from Ugandans and African policy experts for oversimplifying a complex issue, leaving Africans out of the debate and for calling a U.S. military invention that could cost civilian lives.
Danica said Russell has never had a substance abuse or drinking problem and the episode was not caused by such.
"But yes, he did some irrational things brought on by extreme exhaustion and dehydration," she said.
On its website, Invisible Children said his "sparks of creative intelligence and insanity have propelled IC to redefine the concept of humanitarian work, offering new life to old hope."
"On our end - the focus remains only on his health, and protecting our family. The message of the film remains the same: stop at nothing," Danica said.
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