(Reuters) – the director of a viral video calling for the arrest of leader rebel Ugandan Joseph Kony has been hospitalized in California after an “ incident unfortunate” that her group attributed the emotional burden of recent weeks Friday.
Jason Russell, director of the 30-minute video posted on YouTube “Kony 2012” and co-founder of the Group Invisible Children, was hospitalized Thursday for “exhaustion, dehydration and malnutrition”, said the CEO of Invisible Children, Ben Keesey, said in a statement.
“The past two weeks have had a high emotional cost for all of us, especially for Jason, and that cost is expressed in an unfortunate incident yesterday,” said Keesey without giving more details.
“The passion of Jason and his work have done both to help so many people that we are shattered by seeing you suffer this personal health problem,” said.
The video directed by Russell became a sensation on the Internet this month, accumulating nearly 80 million views on YouTube since it was published with the aim of raising awareness to the world about the atrocities committed by the resistance army of the Lord of Kony, including the abduction of children and force them to fight.
Celebrities such as George Clooney, Rihanna, Justin Bieber and Oprah Winfrey have announced their support for the cause. The company owned by the powerful producer Harvey Weinstein has been in contact with Russell to buy the film.
A spokesman for the San Diego police, asked about the information concerning the detention of Russell, confined itself to say that a white man of 33 years had been taken to a medical centre on Thursday morning.
“The San Diego Police Department received several calls saying that he was acting strangely, running into the traffic interfering with traffic, screaming,” said the spokesman, Lt. Andra Brown.
Said that officers arrested the man, who according to witnesses was in “various degrees of nudity” but not him arrested after deciding it was best to take him to a medical center. Did not want to identify it.
The great success of the video of Russell has been acclaimed by inspire young people to act, but has also been criticized by simplifying a long human rights crisis.
Russell tells the video with a personal story that juxtaposes photos of his son in San Diego, California, with the hopelessness of the children of Uganda.
