Met Police responds to Russell Brand claims – and urges sexual assault victims to contact force

Published

8 months ago

September 17, 2023

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The Metropolitan Police has responded to allegations against Russell Brand, saying it encourages victims of sexual assault to contact the force.

Four women have accused Brand of sexual assaults between 2006 and 2013 while the comedian was at the height of his fame, in a joint investigation by The Sunday Times and Channel 4 Dispatches.

He denies all the allegations against him.

A Met Police spokesperson said: “We are aware of media reporting of a series of allegations of sexual assault. At this time, we have not received any reports in relation to this.

“If anyone believes they have been the victim of a sexual assault, no matter how long ago it happened, we would encourage them to contact police.

“We spoke with The Sunday Times on Saturday 16 September. We will be making further approaches to The Sunday Times and Channel 4 to ensure that any victims of crime who they have spoken with are aware of how they may report any criminal allegations to police.”

It comes as:

• Channel 4 and production company Banijay UK have both launched investigations
• BBC said it was “urgently looking into the issues raised”
• Elon Musk and Andrew Tate were among those appearing to offer Brand support
• Charity Trevi Women cuts ties with the comedian
• Foreign Secretary James Cleverly called for quicker responses to such claims
• A parliamentary committee said it would “closely monitor” the issue
• Amnesty International said the claims were “shocking” but it received no complaints

Th BBC said in a statement: “The documentary and associated reports contained serious allegations, spanning a number of years.

“Russell Brand worked on BBC radio programmes between 2006 and 2008 and we are urgently looking into the issues raised.”

A Channel 4 spokesperson said: “We have asked the production company who produced the programmes for Channel 4 to investigate these allegations and report their findings properly and satisfactorily to us.

“Channel 4 is also conducting its own internal investigation, and we would encourage anyone who is aware of such behaviour to contact us directly.”

Banijay UK owns Endermol, which produced The Channel 4 show Big Brother and its spin-offs, on which Brand worked at the time of some of the claims.

It said in a statement: “In light of the very serious allegations relating to the alleged serious misconduct of Russell Brand while presenting shows produced by Endemol in 2004 and 2005, Banijay UK has launched an urgent internal investigation and will co-operate with any requests for information from broadcast partners and external agencies.

“We also encourage anybody who feels that they were affected by Brand’s behaviour while working on these productions to contact us in confidence.”

The charity Trevi Women, which supports mothers recovering from drug addiction, announced on Saturday it was cutting ties with Brand.

Amnesty International described the allegations as “shocking” but said no complaints or concerns were raised when Brand took part in its Secret Policeman’s Ball fund-raising gigs in 2006 and in 2012.

But it urged women to come forward “if there is anything that they experienced at that time that is of concern”.

‘Certain things I can’t discuss’

Elon Musk, controversial influencer Andrew Tate and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson were among those to react to the claims on social media this weekend, with posts appearing to support the 48-year-old comic.

A video by Brand in which he denied the claims was also shared online by TV star turned radio host, Kirsty Gallacher, who is the older sister of Brand’s wife Laura. She later deleted the post.

Brand performed at a comedy show in London on Saturday evening after the allegations came out, telling fans he loved them but that there were “certain things” he “could not discuss”.

Brand has three more dates for his Bipolarisation live show tour, with his next a sell-out in Windsor, before appearances in Plymouth and Wolverhampton.

‘I feel like I’m being attacked’

Ahead of the publication of the claims, Brand, who has in recent years repositioned himself as a wellness guru and critic of the mainstream media, released a video entitled “So, This is Happening” in which he described the claims as “a litany of extremely egregious and aggressive attacks”.

Brand said in the clip: “As I’ve written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous.

“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 video, 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.”

Cleverly calls for quick response to concerns

Meanwhile, the foreign sectetary spoke to Sky News about the dangers of “sharp differentials in power” following the allegations against Brand.

Mr Cleverly did not comment specifically on the allegations but told Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips: “We see that [sharp differentials in power] in the film industry, the entertainment industry and sadly, of course, we sit in the area that I work in terms of politics, where you have very, very significant power differentials, long working hours, people in that environment.”

He added: “We need to make sure that we are going out of our way to protect the people that have less power than those around them. We need to respond to their concerns very, very quickly when they are highlighted.”

The Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee chair, Dame Caroline Dinenage, also promised that MPs will “closely monitoring” the response to the allegations against Brand.

Entertainment

Dabney Coleman, actor who starred in Boardwalk Empire and 9 to 5, dies

Published

10 hours ago

May 18, 2024

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Dabney Coleman, actor who starred in Boardwalk Empire and 9 to 5, dies

Lily Tomlin, Morgan Fairchild and Ben Stiller have led tributes to “one-of-a-kind” actor Dabney Coleman following his death aged 92.

Coleman made his career playing comedic villains, mean-spirited bosses and villains in films including 9 to 5 and Tootsie, as well as playing Commodore Louis Kaestner in Boardwalk Empire.

Lily Tomlin, who starred alongside him in 9 To 5 with Jane Fonda and Dolly Parton, said: “We just loved him.”

In her post to X, the actress shared a photo of her character Violet Newstead dressed in a Snow White costume beside a tense-looking Coleman as her egotistical boss Franklin Hart Jr.

Morgan Fairchild, who starred in Falcon Crest and Friends, described Coleman as a “great one”.

“So very sorry to hear of the death of the wonderful #DabneyColeman”, she wrote on X alongside a black and white photo of them together.

“We went out for a bit in the ’80s and I adored him. This town has lost one of a kind!”

Coleman “took his last earthly breath peacefully and exquisitely” in his Santa Monica home on Thursday, his daughter said in a statement on Friday on behalf of the family.

“My father crafted his time here on Earth with a curious mind, a generous heart and a soul on fire with passion, desire and humour that tickled the funny bone of humanity”, she said.

“As he lived, he moved through this final act of his life with elegance, excellence and mastery.”

Ben Stiller, Zoolander and Meet The Parents actor, praised Coleman for paving the way for character actors.

“The great Dabney Coleman literally created, or defined, really – in a uniquely singular way – an archetype as a character actor.

“He was so good at what he did it’s hard to imagine movies and television of the last 40 years without him.”

Coleman starred in a number of films and TV series in the 1960s, then made his breakthrough as a corrupt mayor in the satirical soap opera Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, in 1976.

His film credits include a computer scientist in WarGames, Tom Hanks’ father in You’ve Got Mail and a chief firefighter in The Towering Inferno.

He won a best actor Golden Globe for The Slap Maxwell Story and an Emmy for best supporting actor in Peter Levin’s 1987 legal drama Sworn To Silence.

Coleman also won two Screen Actors Guild Awards as part of the cast of crime drama Boardwalk Empire and received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for his starring role in the NBC sitcom Buffalo Bill.

Entertainment

Yvette Fielding says she was assaulted by Rolf Harris on Blue Peter and left alone with Jimmy Savile

Published

11 hours ago

May 18, 2024

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Yvette Fielding says she was assaulted by Rolf Harris on Blue Peter and left alone with Jimmy Savile

Blue Peter’s youngest ever presenter has claimed disgraced entertainer Rolf Harris sexually assaulted her when she was a teenage host of the children’s show.

Yvette Fielding, who joined the long-running BBC programme aged 18, told the Sun newspaper how the paedophile predator squeezed and patted her bottom after finding herself alone with him in a TV studio.

The now 55-year-old also recalled an uncomfortable experience with “grotesque” Jimmy Savile, who was later revealed to be one of Britain’s most prolific sex offenders.

Fielding has questioned the role of the BBC in allowing their behaviour, arguing people in the industry “must have known”.

She became a Blue Peter presenter in 1987 and left five years later, going on to host a string of BBC programmes including The Heaven And Earth Show, The General and City Hospital.

Recounting the incident with Harris, she said: “It was very confusing and shocking – just bizarre to think Rolf Harris was squeezing and patting my bottom and I am standing there, thinking ‘I don’t know what to do’.

“Other people in the industry must have known what he was like and you left me alone in the studio with him.

“That shouldn’t have happened. I must have been 18 or 19.

“I think a lot of them did know.”

Harris was a household favourite for decades before his dramatic downfall after being convicted of a string of indecent assaults against young girls.

Stripped of his honours, he died of neck cancer and old age in May last year, aged 93.

He was also known to be associated with Savile, who managed to conceal his crimes until after his death in 2011.

On her meeting with the late depraved DJ, Fielding told the Sun: “He took my hand and started stroking it. ‘Look into my eyes’, he said, ‘And tell me what you’re thinking’.”

“He was grotesque,” she added.

“I just don’t understand why the BBC allowed him to get away with that for as long as he did.”

Savile worked for much of his career at the BBC presenting programmes including Top Of The Pops and Jim’ll Fix It.

The BBC has been contacted for comment.

Entertainment

Girls Aloud kick off reunion tour dedicated to late bandmate Sarah Harding

Published

17 hours ago

May 18, 2024

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Girls Aloud kick off reunion tour dedicated to late bandmate Sarah Harding

Girls Aloud have taken to the stage for the first gig of their reunion tour with emotional tributes to their late bandmate Sarah Harding.

A 30-minute delay to the show blamed on “Dublin motorway closures”, did nothing to dim the delight of fans when Nadine Coyle, Cheryl, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh appeared on stage, standing on individual podiums singing their 2008 song Untouchable.

The comeback tour has been dedicated to Harding, who was diagnosed with cancer and died in September 2021 aged 39.

During the show, the group performed a duet with Harding, whose vocals to I’ll Stand By You played as they joined in live on-stage.

They later sang one of their biggest hits, The Promise, during which the singers stopped and turned their backs to the audience to watch footage of Harding performing the song on her own.

A post on the official Girls Aloud X account said: “Show 1 done. Dublin you were absolutely INCREDIBLE. What a start to the #TheGirlsAloudShow tour.”

The singers won Popstars: The Rivals in 2002 and formed Girls Aloud, going on to achieve four UK number one singles and a Brit award.

They reunited with new music for their 10th anniversary in 2012, while a second reunion was planned for their 20th anniversary when Harding was diagnosed with cancer.

Less than an hour before their expected arrival at the 3Arena in Dublin, the group issued an updated stage time on X.
It said due to “Dublin motorway closures”, the band would arrive 30 minutes later than expected at 9.15pm.

Ahead of the show, a post on the official Girls Aloud X account said: “Rehearsals? Done. Choreography? Ready. Outfits? Fitted. Girls? Aloud.

“…We’ve been working so hard to make this show special for all of you.”

After two back-to-back opening nights in Dublin’s 3Arena, Girls Aloud will play two concerts at the SSE Arena in Belfast on Monday and Tuesday, before heading to the Manchester AO Arena from Thursday to Saturday.

In November, the group had to add six extra dates to their UK and Ireland 2024 arena tour due to “unprecedented demand” following ticket pre-sales.