Russell Brand accused of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse – allegations he denies
Comedian and actor Russell Brand has been accused of rape, sexual assaults and emotional abuse in a Sunday Times and Channel 4 Dispatches investigation – allegations he denies.
Four women have made allegations of sexual assaults between 2006 and 2013 while he was at the height of his fame, according to the newspaper.
The Sunday Times reports that others have made a range of accusations about Brand‘s controlling, abusive and predatory behaviour.
In an overnight video put out on YouTube, Brand denied “very serious criminal allegations” that he said would be made against him by a newspaper and TV company.
In the video, entitled “So, This is Happening”, the comedian denied the claims that he described as “a litany of extremely egregious and aggressive attacks”.
The 48-year-old said he “absolutely refutes” the accusations that “pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream”.
“As I’ve written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous,” he said in the clip.
“I don’t mind them using my books and my stand-up to talk about my promiscuous consensual conduct in the past. What I seriously refute are these very, very serious criminal allegations.”
He added: “Also, it’s worth mentioning that there are witnesses whose evidence directly contradicts the narrative that these two mainstream media outlets are trying to construct, apparently, in what seems to me to be a coordinated attack.”
Signing off the clip, he said: “Now, I don’t wanna get into this any further because of the serious nature of the allegations, but I feel like I’m being attacked and plainly they’re working very closely together.
“We are obviously going to look into this matter ’cause it’s very, very serious. In the meantime, I want you to stay close, stay awake, but more important than any of that, if you can, please stay free.”
Brand promoting his autobiography My Booky Wook in 2009. Pic: AP
What are the details of the allegations?
According to the Sunday Times article, one of Brand’s accusers claims she was 16 and still at school when they began a relationship, having met each other while she was out shopping in central London.
Another woman claims to have been raped by Brand at his Los Angeles home.
The newspaper details claims she was treated at a rape crisis centre on the same day and sent him a text afterwards saying: “When a girl say[s] NO it means no.”
A third woman alleges he sexually assaulted her at his West Hollywood home after the pair met at Alcoholics Anonymous.
And the fourth accuser claims to have been physically and emotionally abused by him.
A female comedian, who has not been named, also recalls being “grabbed” and “bitten” in the face by Brand when they gigged together in the early 2000s.
She likens his alleged behaviour at parties to the character in the 1987 film Predator.
A comedian told the Sunday Times that Brand’s name was regularly circulated in online groups of female comics.
“I know for many, many years that women have been warning each other about Russell,” he told the paper.
On stage in 2012 Pic: AP
Brand due to perform Wembley gig
Brand worked for the BBC and Channel 4 after breaking out with stand-up performances at the Edinburgh Festival in 2000.
He hosted Big Brother spin-off show Big Brother’s Big Mouth on Channel 4 for three years from 2004, before being given slots on both BBC Radio 6 Music and Radio 2.
His time at the BBC ended in scandal in 2008 after he and presenter Jonathan Ross left a series of lewd answer phone messages for Andrew Sachs, claiming Brand had had sex with the actor’s granddaughter.
Brand and Radio 2’s controller quit, while Ross was suspended.
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Following the “Sachsgate scandal”, he moved to the US to pursue a career in Hollywood, where he starred in films such as Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him To The Greek.
The comedian married pop star Katy Perry in 2010, having proposed to her outside the Taj Mahal, but they divorced in 2012.
He later returned to the UK where he met and married Laura Gallacher – the sister of presenter Kirsty Gallacher. They have two children and are expecting a third child.
In recent years, he has re-emerged as a prominent YouTuber. He has used his wide social media following to express conspiracy theories on the coronavirus pandemic, vaccine and the Great Reset.
He is due to perform his Russell Brand Bipolarisation live show at Wembley Park on Saturday. It is not yet clear if the gig is still going ahead.
Brand and Katy Perry married in 2010 before divorcing in 2012
BBC and Channel 4 respond to allegations
In response to the joint investigation, a BBC spokesperson said: “Russell Brand worked for a number of different organisations, of which the BBC was one.
“As is well known, Russell Brand left the BBC after a serious editorial breach in 2008 – as did the then-controller of Radio 2.
“The circumstances of the breach were reviewed in detail at the time. We hope that demonstrates that the BBC takes issues seriously and is prepared to act.
“Indeed, the BBC has, over successive years, evolved its approach to how it manages talent and how it deals with complaints or issues raised.
“We will always listen to people if they come forward with any concerns, on any issue related to any individual working at the BBC, past or present.”
Channel 4 said it was “appalled to learn of these deeply troubling allegations, including behaviour alleged to have taken place on programmes made for Channel 4 between 2004 and 2007”.
The broadcaster added: “We are determined to understand the full nature of what went on. We have carried out extensive document searches and have found no evidence to suggest the alleged incidents were brought to the attention of Channel 4. We will continue to review this in light of any further information we receive, including the accounts of those affected individuals.”
Channel 4 said it would be asking the production company who made the programmes “to investigate these allegations and report their findings properly and satisfactorily to us”.
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Joy star James Norton on the ‘postcode lottery’ of IVF – and playing the scientist who was part of creating the first ‘test-tube baby’
Actor James Norton, who stars in a new film telling the story of the world’s first “test-tube baby”, has criticised how “prohibitively expensive” IVF can be in the UK.
In Joy, the star portrays the real-life scientist Bob Edwards, who – along with obstetrician Patrick Steptoe and embryologist Jean Purdy – spent a decade tirelessly working on medical ways to help infertility.
The film charts the 10 years leading up to the birth of Louise Joy Brown, who was dubbed the world’s first test-tube baby, in 1978.
In the UK, statistics show the proportion of IVF cycles paid for by the NHS has dropped from 40% to 27% in the last decade
Norton, who is best known for playing Tommy Lee Royce in the BAFTA-winning series Happy Valley, told Sky News he has friends who were IVF babies and other friends who have had their own children thanks to the fertility treatment.
“But I didn’t know about these three scientists and their sacrifice, tenacity and skill,” he said. The star hopes the film will be “a catalyst for conversation” about the treatment and its availability.
“We know for a fact that Jean, Bob and Patrick would not have liked the fact that IVF is now so means based,” he said. “It’s prohibitively expensive for some… and there is a postcode lottery which means that some people are precluded from that opportunity.”
Bill Nighy, Thomasin McKenzie and James Norton star in Joy. All pics: Netflix/ Kerry Brown
Now, IVF is considered a wonder of modern medicine. More than 12 million people owe their existence today to the treatment Edwards, Steptoe and Purdy worked so hard to devise.
But Joy shows how public backlash in the years leading up to Louise’s birth saw the team vilified – accused of playing God and creating “Frankenstein babies”.
Bill Nighy and Thomasin McKenzie star alongside Norton, with the script written by acclaimed screenwriter Jack Thorne and his wife Rachel Mason.
The couple went through seven rounds of IVF themselves to conceive their son.
Norton portrays scientist Bob Edwards, while McKenzie plays embryologist Jean Purdy
While the film is set in the 1970s, the reality is that societal pressures haven’t changed all that much for many going through IVF today – with the costs now both emotional and financial.
“IVF is still seen as a luxury product, as something that some people get access to and others don’t,” said Thorne, speaking about their experiences in the UK.
“Louise was a working-class girl with working-class parents. Working class IVF babies are very, very rare now.”
In the run-up to the US election, Donald Trump saw IVF as a campaigning point – promising his government, or insurance companies, would pay for the treatment for all women should he be elected. He called himself the “father of IVF” at a campaign event – a remark described as “quite bizarre” by Kamala Harris.
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Bill Nighy ‘proud’ of new film on IVF breakthrough
“I don’t think Trump is a blueprint for this,” Norton said. “I don’t know how that fits alongside his questions around pro-choice.”
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In the UK, statistics from fertility regulator HEFA show the proportion of IVF cycles paid for by the NHS has dropped from 40% to 27% in the last decade.
“It’s so expensive,” Norton said. “Those who want a child should have that choice… and some people’s lack of access to this incredibly important science actually means that people don’t have the choice.”
Joy is in UK cinemas from 15 November, and on Netflix from 22 November
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