JACKSON HOLE, WYO – Credit sports radio talk show host Ryen Russillo for manning up after his stumble from grace in Jackson Hole last month.
Russillo appeared on his ESPN radio show “The Ryen Russillo Show” for the first time since his arrest in Teton County for criminal trespass. He began the show by saying before he could talk sports, he felt he needed to be “genuine” in following what he has always preached on the show.
“This is something I’ve never wanted to do on a radio show but I’m doing it now,” Russillo began. “I got arrested the first night I was in Jackson Hole. I got arrested because I went out that night. I drank too much, and I went to the wrong hotel room.”
Russillo said the jailers at Teton County Detention Center gave him a “heads up” that the news was out about his arrest and he was “getting destroyed” in the media.
Russillo went on to say the incident highlighted his close personal friendships—people who came to his aid with comforting words—and reminded him that he, like all public figures, are held to a higher standard.
“I have no one else to blame. It’s all on me. There is no one else,” Russillo continued in the four-minute on-air confession. “Some of the headline…it was tough…a little sensationalized, but at the same time I’m the one who put myself in this situation. [Time] to move on…even though I know for years I’m gonna have to own this and wear it because if I say, ‘[Joe] Flacco’s having a hard time finding his receivers,’ you’re gonna say three years from now, ‘Just like you in hotel rooms,’” Russillo said. “So, that’s the price that I pay as a public figure. I understand it. But again, I’m sorry.”
Russillo had been promising his radio fans on ESPN that he was going to “act like a cowboy” and “party hard” when taking some time off from the show last month. Russillo was found nude in a highly intoxicated state sleeping in the bed of a condo he was not staying at in Jackson Hole on August 23. ESPN suspended the journalist for a week. It was the only time Russillo has been reprimanded in his 8-year career with the sports broadcasting company.
Incidentally, Russillo was born in Laramie, Wyoming and still has a deep passion for the Wyoming Cowboys football team, often referring to the team’s latest developments on his show.
