Leno Tells Crowd Before Fatal Love Ride Crash: 'Don't Drive Safe,' 'Get Drunk, Fall Off the Road'

 “Every year, [the organizer] says ‘Drive safe,’” Jay Leno, host of NBC's Tonight Show, told the crowd at the 28th annual Love Ride in Glendale on Sunday, according to a report in the Burbank Leader. “I’m gonna say, ‘Don’t drive safe.’ I wanna see somebody go down. So it’ll be fun. I want it to be in front or behind me and see a whole row of bikes go down. Get drunk, fall off the road. We’ve all become too damn polite…we haven’t had one incident.”

About an hour later, two parcipants in the Love Ride, Romarino Zeri and his passenger, Julie Cameron, after the motorcycle they were riding on collided with a truck.

The Love Ride is a charity fundraiser that snakes from a Glendale Harley-Davidson dealership to a concert and barbecue at Castaic Lake, about 20 miles away.

The crash happened just past the interchange where the northbound 5 Freeway merges with the northbound Hollywood (170) Freeway, a location where truck traffic enters the 5 from the left.

"Traffic had already slowed from a previous accident (ahead) and the motorcyclist and his passenger were moving between the number three and four lanes when the motorcyclist somehow got tangled up with the big rig," said California Highway Patrol Officer Christian Cracraft. "The motorcyclist was run over by the trailer."

Leno, who has hosted the event for years, declined to comment, according to the Leader, but has been criticized by some for making the jokes. Oliver Shokouh, the Love Ride chairman and founder, posted the following message on the Love Ride website:

"We, along with our family of riders, mourn the loss of our friends, Romarino Zeri and his passenger, Julie Cameron. Our heartfelt condolences and sympathies go to their families and friends. We will keep you posted as we learn more information—together we will honor our fallen."

City News Service contributed to this report.