Brian Gerard Kaelin (born March 9, 1959), known as Kato Kaelin, is an American actor and radio and television personality, who was a witness in the O. J. Simpson murder case. Early life and education Kaelin was born on March 9, 1959, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Kaelin was nicknamed "Kato" as a child after the character played by Bruce Lee on the television series The Green Hornet. He graduated from Nicolet High School in Glendale, Wisconsin, in 1977. He attended, but never graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire. He pledged the SAE Fraternity in the fall of 1980 and was accepted at the end of the term at California State University, Fullerton. During his time at Eau Claire he created his own talk show, Kato and Friends, and hosted The Gameshow on the campus television station, TV10. He eventually moved to Hollywood. O. J. Simpson murder case Kaelin was a minor witness for the prosecution in the 1995 O. J. Simpson murder case. In 1994, he was staying in a guest house on Simpson's Rockingham estate and was present at the compound on the night of the two murders on June 12. He witnessed some of Simpson's movements before and after the time of the murders. His story seemed to contradict Simpson's version of the events on some key points, as he testified that he could not account for Simpson's whereabouts between 9:36 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. on the evening the murders took place, which the prosecution alleged occurred between 10:00 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. In spite of "valuable evidence" provided by Kaelin in his testimony, prosecutor Marcia Clark took the unusual step of having him declared a hostile witness, "allowing her to attack her own prosecution witness without repeated objections from Simpson's defense team." He received considerable media attention during the trial; one survey found that 74 percent of Americans could identify him, compared to 25 percent for Vice President Al Gore at that time. Landmark libel case After Simpson was acquitted, the cover of an issue of the tabloid newspaper National Examiner featured a photo of Kaelin without his shirt on, with the headline "Cops think Kato did it!" The article within the issue alleged that police suspected Kaelin of perjury. Kaelin sued the publisher, Globe Communications, for libel, alleging that the cover headline implied he was suspected of the murders. The federal District Court for Central California