Career
Stewart became a born-again Christian, and was determined to "get the message out" via television His first major appearance was at the 1977 National Basketball Association Finals. By the time of the 1979 MLB All-Star Game, broadcasters actively tried to avoid showing him.
Stewart would strategically position himself for key shots of plays or athletes.
Stewart"s fame led to a Budweiser beer commercial and a Saturday Night Live parody sketch, where he was portrayed by Christopher Walken. Stewart was briefly jailed by Moscow police at the 1980 Summer Olympics.
In the late 1980s, he began a string of stink bomb attacks. Targets included Robert Schuller"s Crystal Cathedral, the Orange County Register, the Trinity Broadcasting Network, and a Christian bookstore.
The stated intent of an attempted attack at the American Music Awards was to show the public that "God thinks this stinks."
Stewart was arrested in 1992 after a standoff in a California hotel during which he entered a vacant room with two men he was attempting to kidnap and surprised a maid who then locked herself in the bathroom.
Reportedly, Stewart believed that the Rapture was due to arrive in six days. During the standoff, he threatened to shoot at airplanes taking off from nearby Los Angeles International Airport, and covered the hotel room windows with "John 3:16" placards. Stewart is currently serving three consecutive life sentences in prison on kidnapping charges, having rejected a plea deal of 12 years in order to spread his message in open court.
After being sentenced, he began a religious tirade and had to be restrained by bailiffs.
He became eligible for parole in 2002, but was denied as recently as March 2010. His next parole review will be in 2017.
After this conviction, he was found guilty of four stink bomb attacks. Stewart ran a blog until the time of his parole denial.
He is the subject of the 1997 documentary Rainbow Manitoba by Sam Green.