The BBC, Channel 4 and production company Banijay UK announced on Sunday that they would internally investigate allegations of rape and sexual assault made by several women against former British presenter and actor Russell Brand.
• Also read: British actor Russell Brand is accused of rape
In a joint investigation by The Sunday Times and The Times newspapers and Channel 4, four women accuse the actor of sexual assault between 2006 and 2013, when Russell Brand was at the peak of his career, both as a presenter on BBC Radio 2, Channel 4 and in Hollywood -Film actor.
“Russell Brand worked on BBC radio programs between 2006 and 2008 and we will urgently investigate the issues raised by this investigation,” a spokesman for the public audiovisual giant BBC told AFP.
According to British media, Channel 4 and production company Banijay UK, owner of Endemol, which hired Russell Brand, have also indicated they are conducting their own internal investigations.
Before the publication of these revelations, the 48-year-old former presenter, who is now mainly active on social networks, had refuted “completely amicably”.
In the investigation, one woman accuses Mr. Brand of raping her at his Los Angeles home, while another claims she was sexually abused during a three-month relationship when she was a high school student and 16 years old.
During his career as a comedian, on television and in the cinema, in the United Kingdom and then in the United States, Russell Brand was known for his repeated escapades, his former alcohol and heroin addiction, his brief marriage to the pop singer Katy Perry, and his tendency to bragging about his many female conquests.
He has recently made numerous conspiratorial, anti-vaccine and anti-mainstream comments on his YouTube channel, which is followed by more than 6 million subscribers, or on his X account (formerly Twitter), which is followed by more than 11 million subscribers.
When contacted by AFP, the Metropolitan Police said, without naming the actor, that at this stage it had received “no reports” in relation to the allegations made against him in the media.
The affair even caused a stir in the political world. The chair of the parliamentary culture, media and sport committee, Caroline Dinenage, said Parliament would “closely monitor” the response to the allegations against Russell Brand.