According to a joint report by The Sunday Times, The Times and Channel 4’s investigative program Dispatches, Russell Brand received four allegations of rape, sexual abuse and emotional abuse over the weekend. The cases allegedly occurred between 2006 and 2013, when he was a silent presenter at the BBC and starred in Hollywood films. He was married to Katy Perry from 2010 to 2012. Given the fallout, the actor spoke out, denying the allegations and calling them a “litany of outrageous and aggressive attacks.”
The accusations
The first woman claims she was raped by Brand without condoms against the wall of his Los Angeles home in July 2012 after she refused to have sex with a friend of the artist. She then looked for a center against sexual violence. In a message exchange between them uncovered by the investigation, the young woman explains: “When a girl says no, that means no.” Then Russell replies that he is “sorry”: “I’m sorry. That was crazy and selfish. I hope you can forgive me, I know you are a lovely person.”
Another complainant, identified by the pseudonym Alice, claims she was only 16 years old at the time of the attack on her, while the actor was 31 years old. According to her, the two were in an “emotionally and sexually abusive” relationship and the comedian forcefully forced her to have sex with him while calling her a “child.” Brand even taught her how to hide the affair from her parents and another time forcibly put his penis in her mouth, causing her to gag. According to the report, he only stopped when she punched him in the stomach.
The two met in London in 2006 and stayed together there for three months. “He took my phone. He grounded me and tried to lock me up at home,” she said. For BBC Radio 4’s Women’s Hour program this Monday (18), Alice reported that Russell took her home from school in BBC chauffeured cars.
Russell and Katy were married for two years. (Photo: Getty)
The third girl says she was working at the actor’s house when he tried to rape her. According to her, the two met at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in 2013. “I screamed, ‘What are you doing? Please stop, you’re my friend,'” she said. The woman said Russell threatened to sue her if she told anyone he tried to forcibly kiss her and remove her clothes.
The last complainant reports that in addition to sexual abuse, she also suffered physical and mental violence. The episode would have taken place in a hotel in the United Kingdom in 2007. She published a book in 2014 in which she mentioned that the actor suffered a “tantrum” after discovering a conversation between her and an exboyfriend. Not only did he rip the case off her phone to remove the battery, but he also allegedly “touched her sexually without consent.”
Russell Brand speaks out
The allegations were made public while the comedian was on a short standup tour of London. On Friday (15), a day before the reports were published, he defended himself against the allegations in a video published on social media and YouTube. “I have received two extremely disturbing letters, or a letter and an email, one from a traditional television station and one from a newspaper, detailing a litany of extremely disgusting and aggressive attacks,” he said.
In the file he admits that he exhibited “promiscuous” behavior, but that there was always consent from everyone involved. “These allegations come from the time when I was working in the mainstream media, when I was in the newspapers all the time, when I was acting in films, as I wrote extensively in my books, I was very promiscuous. But during the period of promiscuity, my relationships were consensual. “I was always transparent then almost too transparent and I’m the same now,” he continued.
Finally, he accused the “mainstream media” of launching what he called a “coordinated attack” against him and claimed there were “witnesses whose statements directly contradict the narratives” presented by the women in the report had. View in full:
Further complaints and first consequences
After the video, complainant Alice told the BBC that she had already expected this behavior from the actor. “He’s not outside the mainstream media. Last year he did a Universal Pictures film, he did “Minions,” a children’s film. He has a YouTube channel where he talks about conspiracy theories to an interested audience. And it may sound cynical, but I think he built an audience of people who wouldn’t suspect anything. He knew this would happen a long time ago. It doesn’t surprise me that he denies anything that wasn’t consensual. “These men always deny all allegations made against them,” he said.
Channel 4, where Brand began his career, launched an internal investigation into the case. The station also asked its employees whether any of them had “knowledge of Brand’s alleged behavior.” The Times said there have been additional allegations since the investigation was disclosed, but has not yet confirmed the veracity of the material. British police also received a report of sexual assaults that allegedly occurred in Soho, central London, in 2003.
The publisher Bluebird, which was responsible for publishing Russell Brand’s book, discontinued its program. A new version of the book “Recovery: Freedom from our Addictions” was scheduled to be published in 2024. “These are very serious allegations and in light of this, Bluebird has made the decision to suspend any future publication featuring Russell Brand,” he said in the released statement. in The Bookseller magazine. Russell’s current concert tour has also been suspended.
Tavistock Wood Management, the company that managed the comedian’s career, has already removed Russell from the cast. “Russell Brand has categorically and vehemently denied the allegations made in 2020, but we now believe we were terribly misled by him,” the company said in a statement to Deadline. “TW has terminated all professional relationships with Brand,” he concluded.