Amidst controversy over the viral 'Kony 2012' video produced by Invisible Children, Bono lent his words of support in Ireland's Sunday Times edition. Below are his comments:
“Having just been in Gulu with Edun and Jolly, this is particularly pertinent for me … Spreading like wildfire, and sparking a heated, fascinating, much needed debate, this is brilliant campaigning. Not only does the public now know about Kony and his most despicable atrocities, they also know what a huge range of experts think about it, even if they all don’t agree. I salute a strategy that generates this much interest if it¹s targeted towards lasting meaningful solutions owned and directed by the people of the region on their journey from the trauma of these atrocities towards stability and development. Is there an Oscar for this kind of direction? Jason Russell deserves it.”
'Kony 2012,' released last week on YouTube, spread rapidly on social media sites, racking up almost 75 million views to date with the help of celebrity Twitter endorsements from Justin Beiber, Oprah Winfrey and Sean "Diddy" Combs. Critics of the campaign have come out against Invisible Children, citing oversimplification of the issue.
Russell's tagline for the video notes his motiviation for the video : "'KONY 2012' is a film and campaign by Invisible Children that aims to make Joseph Kony famous, not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice."
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