Movie Director Says Disney Star Orlando Brown Charged at Him With 2 Weapons
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Former Disney actor Orlando Brown fumbled his latest movie role on Thursday when he was arrested in Ohio for allegedly swinging at the director with multiple weapons.
The That’s So Raven actor, 35, was taken into custody just before 10.a.m Thursday, a Lima Police Department spokesperson told The Daily Beast. He is being held at the Allen County jail without bond.
Lima-based media entrepreneur Matthew Sanders had been letting Brown stay at a rental property that he’s renovating because the actor is currently homeless and “he did not want him to go to a homeless shelter,” according to a police report.
Sanders told officers that Brown was acting “crazy.” Speaking to The Daily Beast on Friday, Sanders said the ex-child star accused him of raping Brown's wife and children before charging at him with a broken-off knife blade in one hand and a hammer in the other, though Brown didn’t quite manage to strike him.
No injuries were reported in the incident.
Sanders told The Daily Beast that Brown is his business partner, though previous reports said they were brothers. Police noted that the pair identified themselves as “blood brothers.”
Sanders said the two struck a partnership after he reached out to Brown via Instagram in August for help promoting his card game, “Who’s Keeping It Real?”
It quickly became clear that Brown does anything but.
“He’s very smart and very intelligent. I’m not a doctor, but in my opinion, he does have mental issues and speaks out of touch with reality at times,” Sanders said.
The entrepreneur said he also gave Brown a supporting role in a movie he’s producing and directing, titled Up the Score. Social media users had spotted Brown around Lima in recent weeks.
“I thought it would be great. It could show someone took a chance on him and that he still has all the skills and talent that all the other high-profile actors have,” Sanders said.
The film, about a military man who leaves his family for a catfisher he met online, was set to start filming on Jan. 14. Unfortunately, Sanders doesn’t see a way Brown can come back. The Lima Police report noted that Sanders made clear he intends to press charges.
“I don’t think it would be possible because Orlando needs help that we cannot provide,” Sanders told The Daily Beast. “We all love him, and unfortunately he was a threat, at the time, to himself and others.”
Brown has battled addiction for years and was arrested for domestic battery back in 2016. Speaking at a fundraising event for a religious rehab facility in 2020, he revealed, “I went through a lot. I experimented with crystal meth, with weed. I didn’t know what I was doing. I was addicted to the internet. All kinds of stuff.”
He has also displayed a bizarre obsession with former co-star Raven-Symoné over the years. In a 2016 interview with hip-hop blog VladTV, he suggested that he and Raven had a dalliance during their time on the show, launching into the song “MMMbop” by Hanson while mimicking oral sex. He’s also shown off a huge tattoo of the Raven’s Home star splashed across his neck and chest.
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