The documentary film-maker behind Kony 2012 has spoken about his high-profile public breakdown in a series of interviews coinciding with the launch of the organisation's latest video.
Referring to the incident, in which he was picked up by police while naked and rambling on the streets of San Diego, Jason Russell said his mind "clicked" after weeks of promoting and then defending his campaign against the Lord's Resistance Army and its murderous leader, Joseph Kony.
"I wasn't in control of my mind or my body," Russell told NBC's Today show. In a separate interview with Oprah Winfrey, Russell said he put the episode down to "extreme exhaustion, stress and dehydration".
The fresh media appearances come as Invisible Children, Russell's organisation, launches a new video aimed at renewing its campaign against the use of child soldiers and atrocities carried out by the Lord's Resistance Army.
Posted on YouTube on Sunday, the film Move serves as a follow-up to the Kony 2012 video that went viral earlier this year, being seen by about 100 million people in a week.
But the success of that campaign led to a backlash, with critics claiming the film it simplified the story of Kony's reign of terror and failed to sufficiently note that Kony – a wanted war criminal – and his followers were no longer a force in northern Uganda. Kony and his immediate circle are thought to be operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Showings of the film – which focused on the story of Jacob Acaye, a former child abductee of the LRA who witnessed his brother being killed by Kony's men – in Uganda prompted an angry response from those who believed that it presented an unfair portrayal of the country.
At the height of the Kony 2012 debate, Russell embarked on a whirlwind tour of interviews and media appearances. The travel and lack of sleep took its toll on his mental wellbeing, he said.
He told Today: "It was so chaotic. It was so exciting because it felt like the world was for us, and then at the same time it was heartbreaking and felt almost like a nightmare because it felt like the world was against us."
He added: "My mind couldn't stop thinking about the future – I literally thought I was responsible for the future of humanity. It started to get into the point where my mind finally turned against me and there was a moment that click, I wasn't in control of my mind or my body."
As well as the new video, which has already been seen by tens of thousands of people, Invisible Children is planning a November 17 march on the White House to further highlight the crimes of the Lord's Resistance Army.
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