Sexual jokes, kisses and nipples: Russell Brand’s most awkward interview moments
Comedian Russell Brand has been accused of rape, sexual assaults and emotionally abusing four women during the height of his fame.
The alleged assaults occurred between 2006 and 2013, while he was a presenter for BBC Radio 2 and Channel 4, and include an assault on a 16-year-old girl.
He vehemently denied the “very serious criminal allegations” ahead of The Sunday Times article and an expose which is being aired by Channel 4’s Dispatches programme.
The allegations include crew members on his Big Brother spin-off being made to feel they were working as a “pimp” by approaching young women on his behalf, and that he raped a woman at his Los Angeles home.
In a video posted to social media, the 48-year-old actor said he received “two extremely disturbing letters” listing “extremely egregious and aggressive attacks” relating to his “promiscuous” past.
While he did not specify details of the claims, he insisted his relationships were “absolutely always consensual”.
He also attacked a “serious and concerted agenda” to silence him.
Since ending his career as a presenter and stand-up comedian, Brand launched a podcast and runs a yoga and mental health-orientated YouTube channel named Awakening with Russell.
Russell Brand has shared a video on his YouTube channel denying some “very serious allegations” made against him, which are set to be shared in a documentary on Saturday and published in a newspaper.
The comedian and actor said he “absolutely refutes” the allegations against him, which he did not reveal in detail but referred to as “very, very serious criminal allegations”.
Brand, 48, said the allegations “pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream, when... I was very, very promiscuous.”
Holly Evans 16 September 2023 14:59
1694900044Brand has denied all the allegations against him
(PA )
Russell Brand seen leaving the Wembley Park Theatre
(PA)
Holly Evans 16 September 2023 22:34
1694899542Daniel Sloss, the only comedian prepared to speak on camera for the Dispatches documentary, raised his concerns about what more could have been done to stop Brand’s allegedly predatory behaviour.
He said: “Questions that should have been asked about Russell before he was employed for certain things, I don’t believe they were asked.”
Russell Brand vehemently denies the allegations that he called “very serious” and “criminal”.
Russell Brand has denied the allegations (PA)
(PA Wire)
Holly Evans 16 September 2023 22:25
1694898902Former staff who worked alongside Brand on his Channel 4 productions say that he allegedly targeted young women in the audience, who were often at university age.
He would allegedly “point out women” that he found attractive and asked staff to pass them his number and hotel details.
Speaking in the documentary, a woman says she felt as though the women were “lambs for slaughter” and they often phoned afterwards and reported feeling “used”.
She claimed that staff were made to feel “a pimp to Russell Brand’s needs”.
Holly Evans 16 September 2023 22:15
1694898037Russell Brand has been pictured leaving Wembley Park Theatre after his stand-up comedy show.
The show was delayed by 45 minutes as the comedian faces serious allegations including rape and sexual assault.
Brand is facing allegations of rape and sexual assault
(Reuters )
Brand spotted leaving a theatre in Wembley this evening
(Reuters )
Holly Evans 16 September 2023 22:00
1694897576A spokesman for Banijay UK, which bought Endemol in 2020, said it had reviewed files and correspondence and could find no records of issues about Brand being raised formally or discussed with Endemol.
It said: “We take our duty of care to our cast, crew and staff extremely seriously. While the legacy company, Endemol, did have a code of conduct, support policies and escalation procedures in place during the period in question, they were not as robust as our current processes.
“We are sorry these women did not feel supported and protected while working on these productions and in light of these serious allegations encourage to them to contact us in confidence.”
Russell Brand said he denies serious allegations about his personal life in a video posted online (Philip Toscano, PA)
(PA Archive)
Holly Evans 16 September 2023 21:52
1694897150A woman who worked as a runner on Big Brother’s spin-off show, which Brand presented, said that production managers didn’t want to “rock the boat” and took advantage of her friendship with the presenter.
She recalled the “line being crossed” after Brand flashed her in his dressing room.
She claimed that she later engaged in a consensual sexual relationship with him but he swore her to secrecy, telling her to that it would break a clause in his contract.
Holly Evans 16 September 2023 21:45
1694896343One woman who met Brand in 2006 started dating him at the age of 16, she said. She told the Channel 4 documentary: “It shouldn’t be legal for a 16 year old to have a relationship with a man in their 30s.. I always felt like he had the upper hand.”
Describing what their first date was like, she said: “I was a child that had got dressed up for dinner. I liked him and I felt a bit giddy and I felt special. I woke to text messages from him saying he had dreamt we were married.”
She claimed that she lost her virginity to Brand and that he had caused a “wedge” between her and her parents. Other allegations include a sexual assault at his home and controlling behaviour, including Brand ordering her to stay in a bath for an hour.
Holly Evans 16 September 2023 21:32
1694896175Helen Berger, who worked as Brand’s personal assistant in 2006, said: “He could not stop sleeping with women and he was never satisfied by it, he was never happy.”
She recalled that he would frequently just wear his underwear and showed his friends intimate photographs of women.
When asked if she had concerns around consent, she responded: “I never once thought that he was someone who would rape anybody or assault anybody.”
Brand was ‘never satisfied’ by sleeping with women
Holly Bancroft 16 September 2023 21:29
1694895733A woman has detailed meeting Brand in Hollywood in 2012, and kissing him backstage at one of his first shows in LA.
The two consensually engaged in sexual activity and began to message and phone call.
She recalled: “I was out late and he happened to call me and say ‘I had a really bad day please come over’. He said ‘please come, just come and cuddle with me’.
“He comes running out of the bedroom naked. He came at me with kisses and stuff, which was kind of fun and then it wasn’t that fun when I couldn’t move. I knew what he wanted from me at that point.
“He pushed me up against a wall and I was like ‘What are you doing’”
“I tried to get away from him.. I’m telling him to get off me and he won’t get off… I was very distraught. Trying to get out of the house with him being so much taller than me. I couldn’t move.”
She claims that Brand raped her against the wall and texted her with an apology. Documents show that the woman attended a rape crisis centre and decided agaainst reporting the alleged assault to the police.
Brand has denied all allegations.
Holly Evans 16 September 2023 21:22