Ryen Russillo returned to work Tuesday, two weeks after being arrested for criminal entry in Wyoming.
The ESPN radio host began his first broadcast back on “The Russillo Show” after being suspended with an apology.
“I am sorry to my friends and family, who have been asked about this non-stop,” Russillo said. “I was super-depressed, especially that first week when you are thinking about your actions and you’re in a car by yourself driving through Idaho Falls in a rainstorm … I can’t believe I did this. I am sad, angry, you’re punching the steering wheel, then you get a phone call and you start feeling a little bit better. I joke about not having friends, but obviously I have a lot and I should pick one of those [to bring with me] the next time I am on vacation.”
Russillo was found intoxicated in a Jackson, Wyo., condo with his shirt off and pants around his ankles after the residents called the police. He was found with “bloodshot eyes and slurred speech,” Jackson police Lt. Roger Schultz told the Jackson Hole News & Guide.
“He couldn’t coherently answer any questions,” Schultz said.
Russillo confirmed the details of the arrest.
“Last week I was suspended, and I was suspended because two weeks ago, in the vacation that I spent all this time talking about … I got arrested the first night I was in Jackson Hole,” Russillo said. “And I got arrested because I went out that night, drank too much, and I went to the wrong hotel room, and that’s how I ended up getting in trouble.”
Russillo took full ownership of the mistake in a four-minute monologue to open the show.
“The way I felt that day and every day since has been tough, but the thing about screwing up is it can be hard when it’s just you, but that’s actually what’s made this easy is that it’s only my fault,” he said. “I have no one else to blame, I don’t have anything like people say, ‘Wrong place wrong time’ — well, I guess you could say that, but that was my fault. You know, ‘my friends or this guy or that guy, wrong group of guys, wasn’t me.’
“It’s all on me. There is no one else. I could go through a timeline of events of ‘this happens, this happens, maybe this whole thing doesn’t happen,’ but then it’s going to sound like I’m making excuses and that I don’t get it. Trust me, I get it. I understand that this is a big mistake because I’m a public figure, and I have my name on a show, and I work at a place like ESPN.”
ESPN has not released a statement on Russillo since a vague response the morning after his arrest.
“The other part of this is reminding myself that I am a public figure and the rules are different and if you want these jobs and your name to resonate and all the good things that go with it, you have to understand you’re going to pay a different price when you screw up and I’ve definitely paid that price,” Russillo said. “Some of the headlines were a little sensationalized, but at the same time, I am the one that put myself in that situation to go to sleep in another room and have all that happen.”
