Culture

Kony 2012 Narrator Detained for "Masturbating in Public" (Updated)

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Jason Russell, the co-founder of Invisible Children and narrator of the viral Kony 2012 video, has been detained by the San Diego Police Department. According to Lt. Andra Brown, Russell was taken into custody Thursday night after vandalizing cars and masturbating in public. In addition, the SDPD "received several calls yesterday at 11:30 a.m. of a man in various stages of undress, running through traffic and screaming. Police described him as 'in his underwear.'"

The SDPD assume he was under the influence of something.

Meanwhile, the blog Africa is a Country has unearthed some insane videos by Invisible Children, including a 7-minute musical number set in a high school and an awareness music video, with singing that never mentions "Uganda," "Africa" "Joseph Kony" or "child soldiers."

Reason on Kony 2012.

UPDATE: TMZ has a short, totally NSFW video of Russell's "naked meltdown." (HT to Coeus.) 

The police will not press charges, since according to a SDPD spokesperson, "We determined that medical treatment was a better course of action than arrest."

TMZ has more:

Law enforcement sources tell us … Russell is being hospitalized on a 5150 psychiatric hold so authorities can assess his mental state. The 5150 hold allows authorities to keep Russell for up to 3 days to determine if he represents a threat to either himself or others.