BNH‘s latest edition of Hollywood Behaving Badly includes one cranky celebrity and another who appears to have cracked under the pressure of sudden fame and scrutiny. Plus: a tabloid-friendly bad girl claims she has reformed, and an A-lister gets arrested for a good cause.
The ink is barely dry on the divorce decree between comedian Russell Brand and pop starlet Katy Perry but the tabloid furor over their split has yet to subside. Paparazzi continue to tag Brand wherever he goes.
To wit: a photographer in New Orleans “claimed he was following Brand on Monday when the actor approached [his] car, snatched his cell phone and flung it through the window of a nearby law firm.”
Brand joked about the incident on Twitter. “Since Steve Jobs died I cannot bear to see anyone using an iPhone irreverently,” he said. “(W)hat I did was a tribute to his memory.” (Can you blame him for losing his temper? The paps never give the guy a moment’s peace.)
Nevertheless, a warrant was issued for Brand’s arrest. He subsequently turned himself in to police on Thursday and was booked on a misdemeanor charge of Simple Criminal Damage. He also offered to pay for the broken window, but a spokesperson for the law firm said it had already been handled.
Meanwhile, Jason Russell knows something about intense public scrutiny. The filmmaker behind the viral video sensation “Kony2012” saw interest in the clip suddenly explode barely two weeks ago. It went viral faster than anything in YouTube’s history—more than 81 million views and counting.
Such instant mega-fame brought worldwide scrutiny to Russell and Invisible Children, the nonprofit organization he co-founded in 2004. He appeared to crack under the pressure Thursday when he was apprehended by police after acting “in a bizarre and irrational manner,” reports the Los Angeles Times.
Witnesses who called police “reported [an] underwear-clad male was in the street, interfering with traffic, screaming, yelling incoherently and pounding his fists on the sidewalk.” Russell was detained by police and taken to a mental health facility for observation. At post time, no criminal charges were pending.
Ben Keesey, Invisible Children’s CEO, released a statement Friday indicating Russell was “suffering from exhaustion, dehydration and malnutrition.”
“The past two weeks have taken a severe emotional toll on all of us, Jason especially, and that toll has manifested itself in an unfortunate incident yesterday,” he said. “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.”
In other news, actress Tara Reid is out promoting the “American Reunion” sequel that brings together the original “American Pie” ensemble. The tabloid-friendly party girl insists she is a changed woman and that her table-dancing antics are behind her—at least publicly.
She reminded “Access Hollywood” on Thursday that she has never been arrested and never caused other people any harm as she sowed her wild oats. “I like to have a good time, who doesn’t? I just learned to be more discrete,” she said. “Who you keep around and what you do is very important.”
“You wanna try to have a good time and try to keep it at home”— Lindsay Lohan, various Kardashians, are you listening?—“especially today with the paparazzi, try to control it as much as you can.”
Finally, no less an A-lister than George Clooney was arrested Friday. Photos of the handsome actor with his hands bound behind him as he was being loaded into a paddywagon quickly went viral.
But his publicist won’t be losing any sleep. Clooney had joined a group outside the Sudanese embassy in Washington DC to protest the government’s mistreatment of its own people.
“The arrested protesters included congressmen, human rights activists and faith leaders,” reports CNN. Among the group was George’s father, Nick Clooney, as well as “Democratic Reps. Jim McGovern, Al Green, Jim Moran and John Olver; Martin Luther King III; and NAACP President Ben Jealous.”
The actor and activist “told a Senate hearing this week that Sudan’s forces were launching repeated attacks on unarmed civilians and preventing aid from reaching a region where U.S. officials say as many as 250,000 people face severe food shortages,” reports Yahoo News.
Following his arrest, Clooney paid a $100 fine on a misdemeanor charge of disorderly crossing of a police line and was released.
CLICK HERE to read CNN’s report on Clooney’s arrest.
CLICK HERE to watch “Kony 2012” and to learn more about Invisible Children.
CLICK HERE to learn more about NAACP.