KONY 2012 founder Jason Russell is finally speaking out about his naked meltdown ... telling Oprah Winfey, "That person on the street corner ranting and raving and naked is not me."

Russell sat down with Winfrey for the Oct. 7th episode of "Oprah's Next Chapter" -- and tried to explain what happened to him on the day he broke down back in March.

TMZ first posted the video of Russell's meltdown, showing him frantically babbling about the devil and pounding the concrete.

O's people have yet to release a clip of the interview ... but they did release the following excerpt:

OPRAH: "What do you remember, Jason?"

JASON: "I remember me flipping off cars."

OPRAH: "Flipping off cars? Like with your..."

JASON: "With both hands. I remember that just like 'doot,' just like a little memory. I remember running around our lemon tree. I remember ..."

OPRAH: "There were reports that you were breaking into cars?"

JASON: "There are reports. I mean I think I was stopping cars in the street. People said I was laying in the street – it's a busy street – I was laying in the street."

OPRAH: "How did you get your robe off? How do you go from running out with your robe on to your robe off?"

JASON: "Again, it's really hard to explain if people who have never had an out-of-body experience, but it really wasn't me. That wasn't me, that person on the street corner ranting and raving and naked is not me, that's not who I am."

JASON: [I remember] walking around snapping my fingers up and down ... slapping my hands on the ground as hard as I can. Just slapping them on the ground. Talking to myself. Ranting. Raving. Talking about good versus evil, God and the devil. I mean it was just very out of control."

One of the heads of Jason Russell's Invisible Children organization made a video after the charity won a $1 million grant ... in which he appears to be drunk and joking about keeping $900,000 for himself.

TMZ has obtained the clip ... featuring Jedidiah Jenkins, the Director of Ideology for the charity dedicated to hunting down African warlord Joseph Kony.

The footage appears to be shot in 2010 ... right after Invisible Children won the $1 million grand prize in the Chase Community Giving Facebook competition.

In the video, Jenkins is holding a handle of Smirnoff vodka ... and slurs to the camera, "I don't know if you heard this or not ... but we won a ... we won a million dollars so ... pretty rad."

After chugging from the bottle, Jenkins continues ... "a hundred thousand for Haiti and $900,000 in extra for me."

As for the Haiti reference ... the contest was held one week after the earthquake in Haiti and Invisible Children had promised to give $100k to Haitian relief efforts if they won the prize. We have no idea how the remaining $900,000 was spent.

A source connected to Invisible Children says the video is a joke that Jedidiah recorded and posted on a private YouTube page right after the group won the prize. We're told the bottle was filled with water, not vodka.

Invisible Children's rep has not responded to our calls for an official comment.


10:00 AM PDT -- Jenkins has finally commented on the video ... saying, "I was joking. It was made for my co-worker who was out of town when we won the prize."

Jenkins also says the Smifnoff bottle is filled with water ... not vodka ... explaining, "Who can drink that much Vodka? Definitely not me. I’d die. It’s clearly water. I’m not gonna apologize for being a human that jokes with his friends."

African warlord Joseph Kony is a master of voodoo ... who may have willed an evil spirit to poison the mind of Invisible Children co-founder Jason Russell ... this according to a former member of Kony's child army.

TMZ spoke with Richard Akena ... who was captured by Kony's forces 4 separate times when he was a child and was forced to carry out Kony's evil bidding.

Akena tells us ... most people who were captured by Kony believe he is "being controlled by a devil spirit."


Akena says it wasn't unusual to see Kony try to use voodoo magic in an effort to thwart his enemies in Africa ... and he believes the same voodoo magic could explain Russell's naked meltdown .

Russell's family says the breakdown can be chalked up to "reactive psychosis" ... caused by stress and lack of sleep. 

Still, Akena tells us he's convinced otherwise ... "This was Kony's doing."

Jason Russell's friends at the Invisible Children organization were definitely NOT amused by Jason Biggs' video spoof of Russell's naked meltdown ... and now, they're firing back.

As we previously reported, Biggs stripped down to his birthday suit at a Chicago news station Thursday ... in what appeared to be a parody of Russell's nude mental breakdown in San Diego earlier this month (below).


We called Invisible Children for comment ... and a rep simply told us, "Who's Jason Biggs? Was he famous once or something?"

So far, no comment from Biggs' people.

"American Pie" star Jason Biggs stripped off his clothes in the middle of a Chicago news station this morning and ran around completely naked ... in what seems to be a parody of the infamous Jason Russell meltdown video.

It all went down moments after Jason and Seann William Scott sat down for an interview for the WGN-TV Morning News.

Obviously, the whole thing was a joke to drum up publicity for their new movie ... but with Russell still in the hospital suffering from what's being described as a "reactive psychosis" ... we gotta ask ...

Jason Russell's family has a statement on the "Kony 2012" founder's health ... claiming Russell was diagnosed with "brief reactive psychosis" following his naked meltdown ... and will remain hospitalized for several weeks.

The statement reads, "We would, again, like to make it clear that Jason's incident was in no way the result of drugs or alcohol in his body. The preliminary diagnosis he received is called brief reactive psychosis, an acute state brought on by extreme exhaustion, stress and dehydration."

The statement continues, "Though new to us, the doctors say this is a common experience given the great mental, emotional and physical shock his body has gone through in these last two weeks. Even for us, it's hard to understand the sudden transition from relative anonymity to worldwide attention - both raves and ridicules, in a matter of days." 

TMZ posted the video last week ... showing a naked Russell ranting maniacally and slapping the pavement before cops detained him on a 5150 psychiatric hold last week.

Jason's family insists ... Russell "will get better" ... saying, "He is, and will remain, under hospital care for a number of weeks; and after that, the recovery process could take months before he is fully able to step back into his role with Invisible Children."

"During that time, we will focus not on a speedy recovery, but a thorough one."

From far away, it was a naked man pounding the sidewalk in public -- now TMZ has obtained up close video of Jason Russell's meltdown ... complete with four-letter words ... and the devil.

In this new video, Russell can be heard ranting to himself, dropping F-bombs, clapping to no one in particular, and shouting about the devil. 

Russell was not arrested and won't be charged ... but he has been placed on a 5150 psychiatric hold.

Uganda Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi is finally responding to the Kony 2012 viral video -- with a video of his own and a series of tweets directed at a slew of celebrities.

Just a day after Kony 2012 director Jason Russell was detained by police after a naked meltdown on the streets of San Diego, Mbabazi posted a video on YouTube refuting a "false impression" people have been given about the country as a result of Marshall's video.



Mbabazi said the video is not representative of the current conditions in his country and added, "The Kony 2012 campaign fails to make one crucial point clear: Joseph Kony is not in Uganda."

Mbabazi also tweeted at several celebs who helped make the Kony 2012 video so popular (see below).

TMZ has footage of "Kony 2012" honcho Jason Russell in the midst of his naked meltdown in San Diego ... pounding his fists in anger and screaming maniacally. [UPDATE: TMZ has obtained a close-up video from Russell's meltdown. CLICK HERE to see.]

As we previously reported, Russell was detained by police yesterday ... after witnesses say he was running around naked and making sexual gestures.

Russell was held on a 5150 psychiatric hold ... so authorities can decide if he poses a danger to himself or others.

A rep for Invisible Children says Russell was suffering from exhaustion, dehydration, and malnutrition as a result of a strenuous PR campaign.

The wife of Jason Russell, the documentarian who was detained Thursday for running through the streets of San Diego naked, claims he does not have a problem with drugs or alcohol. 

Danica Russell issued a statement addressing the bizarre incident, saying, "Let us say up front that Jason has never had a substance abuse or drinking problem, and this episode wasn’t caused by either of those things. But yes, he did some irrational things brought on by extreme exhaustion and dehydration."

Russell was captured on video obtained by TMZ ... standing on a street corner and pounding his fists on the sidewalk.

Russell is being held on a 5150 psychiatric hold so authorities can decide if he poses a danger to himself or others.

3:26 PM PST: We just got footage of Jason's naked meltdown on a public street ... pounding his fists in anger and screaming maniacally.

2:15 PM PST: Law enforcement sources tell us ... there are NO plans to charge Russell with a crime for yesterday's incident.

2:08 PM PST: 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.

1:45 PM PST: The CEO of Invisible Children, Ben Keesey, tells TMZ ..."Jason Russell was unfortunately hospitalized yesterday suffering from exhaustion, dehydration, and malnutrition."

The statement continues, "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 yesterday."

"Jason’s passion and his work have done so much to help so many, and we are devastated to see him dealing with this personal health issue. We will always love and support Jason, and we ask that you give his entire family privacy during this difficult time.”


The mastermind behind the now-famous "Kony 2012" video was detained by police in San Diego yesterday for allegedly being drunk in public and masturbating.


Jason Russell was taken into custody by San Diego cops.  In addition to allegedly masturbating, cops say he vandalized cars.

Cops told NBC7 in SD they received several calls around 11:30 AM ... reporting a man in "various stages of undress."

Sources tell us ... Russell was dancing around the Intersection of Ingraham and Riviera wearing "speedo-like underwear" ... and eventually removed the underwear and began to make sexual gestures.

We're told ... it appeared Russell was under the influence of some kind of substance.

Cops told NBC, "Officers detained [Russell] and transferred him to a local medical facility for further evaluation and treatment."

Russell is the father of two, and says he wants to have 9 more kids. 

Russell is the co-founder of Invisible Children as well as the filmmaker of the ultra-viral video which has set records on the Internet -- with more than 80 million views (below).