34 minutes ago
Russell Brand has released a video in which he denies “serious criminal allegations” he says are being made against him.
The actor and comedian said he received letters from a television station and a newspaper containing “a litany” of “aggressive attacks.”
The BBC understands that a number of women will make serious allegations about Brand’s sexual behavior in a Channel 4 Dispatches program and a Sunday Times report expected to be broadcast and published this evening.
His relationships were “always consensual,” Brand said.
In the video, posted on YouTube and
“These allegations relate to the time when I was working in the mainstream, when I was in the newspapers all the time, when I was in the movies, and as I have written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous.”
“During this period of promiscuity, the relationships I had were absolutely and always consensual.”
Brand said he believed he was the subject of a “coordinated attack” and that he would investigate the matter because it was “very, very serious.”
He did not name the television station or newspaper in his video.
Brand has presented a number of radio and television programs for broadcasters such as Channel 4, MTV, Radio X and the BBC.
He began his career as a stand-up comedian in the early 2000s, but got his big break a few years later as host of Big Brother’s Big Mouth on E4.
After his popularity rose sharply, Brand was cast in Hollywood films such as Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him To The Greek and Arthur.