American Idol, E News Daily and KISS-FM host Ryan Seacrest returned to Children's Hospital of Orange County on Monday to brighten the days of young patients, broadcast his radio show live and seek $5 donations to CHOC from listeners.
The teeny broadcaster, who also visited CHOC in September 2009, was reportedly surrounded this time by cast members from the Disney
Channel's Hanna Montana, MTV's The Buried Life and ABC's Modern Family and Dancing With The Stars.
Perhaps Seacrest's entourage had mad nunchuku skills because no one tried to kill him this time.
]
On
Sept. 13, 2009, Army Reserves sergeant Chidi Benjamin
Uzomah Jr. attacked a security guard
protecting Seacrest as he left the same fund-raiser at the children's hospital in Orange. Seacrest was unaware of the fracas.
Then, on Oct. 2 of last year, Uzomah, a Special Forces-trained 25-year-old residing in Lakewood, came looking for Seacrest at the offices in Burbank where he tapes his KISS-FM and E! Entertainment shows.
That same month, Uzomah pleaded guilty in Orange County Superior Court to misdemeanor assault,
battery
and possession of a switchblade knife two or more inches long. He was was sentenced to
15 days in jail, three years probation and ordered to
stay away from CHOC and Seacrest.
However, on Oct. 30, 2009, Uzomah was armed with a knife when he walked into the
lobby of the E! Entertainment building, where he was detained by security guards before being handed over to LAPD officers for arrest.
At Uzomah's subsequent LA court hearing, Seacrest told the judge, “His aggressive and violent efforts to come
into physical
contact with me are extremely frightening to me. They have
jeopardized
not only my personal safety but also the safety and well-being of those
around me.”
Seacrest sought a restraining order that day against Uzomah, who faced one felony count of stalking
the star and two misdemeanor
counts of attempted disobeying of a court order. Uzomah was sentenced in June to two years in state prison and ordered to stay clear of Seacrest for 10 years.
The Army apologized to Seacrest for the actions of its 426th Civil Affairs Battalion member.
So, here's to Seacrest braving the potential nutbars in the bushes to return to Orange and raise an additional $30,000 for CHOC this week.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.
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