Kony video star found naked by police

The viral success of the “Kony 2012” video, which calls for the arrest of Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony, has resulted in a man being detained by police. Sadly, it wasn't quite the man that film-makers had in mind.

Jason Russell, the handsome, 33-year-old activist who stars in the video, was last night being observed at a mental health facility in San Diego, after law-enforcement officers picked him up for being drunk and naked on a busy street corner. A police spokesman said that Russell appeared to have been masturbating in public, had vandalised cars, and was under the influence of drugs or alcohol when he was detained, shortly before lunchtime on Thursday.

He was not formally arrested, since officers came to the conclusion that his behaviour and lack of clothes suggested that he should instead be placed into the care of health professionals.

Russell was in Pacific Beach, a neighbourhood of San Diego popular with College students on hedonistic "Spring Break" vacations. Video of him pounding his fists on the ground and screaming was posted on the website TMZ.

A spokesman for Invisible Children, the pressure group Russell co-founded, said he was suffering from exhaustion, dehydration and malnutrition. "The past two weeks have taken a severe emotional toll on all of us, Jason especially."