He was the quintessential provocative comedian before turning into an anti-establishment guru: Russell Brand was accused of rape and sexual assault and remains a very popular celebrity on social networks. Millions of subscribers are fascinated by its magnetic energy.
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Brand, who has strenuously denied these allegations from at least five women, has more than 6 million subscribers on YouTube, 11.2 million on X (formerly Twitter), 3.8 million on Instagram and 1.4 million on the platform popular with conspiracy theorists Rumble.
He is 48 years old, looks like a false Christ with a sublime black gaze.
Long best known for his shows featuring hypersexualized jokes, he was a star of 2000s British television and radio for whom nothing was too outrageous or provocative. He himself boasted about multiple sexual relationships and reported more than 1,000 affairs with women.
Back then, a tabloid named him “Fucker of the Year” several years in a row, a title he was proud of.
He has been passionate about comedy since he was a teenager and started at MTV at the age of 25, where he was fired for dressing up as Osama bin Laden and inviting his dealer to the studios the day after the September 11 attacks. In 2002 he had his first show on a rock radio station, three years later he launched his Russell Brand Show on BBC Radio 6 and then moved to BBC2. He resigned in 2008 after an on-air phone call was deemed obscene and sparked thousands of complaints.
At the same time, nourished by the turbulence of his private life, he presents his own show on tour and stars in television series.
He also hosted Big Brother on British television for years, wrote columns for the Guardian and two autobiographies in 2007 and 2010, in which he particularly recalled his 2005 detoxification treatment in the USA for sexual addiction and his drug problems.
Their style of dress, their hair and makeup, their provocations and hypersexual jokes may be frightening, but the audience is there.
He went to Hollywood and made a few films, the most famous of which remains “Nothing works without Sarah” (2008).
In 2009, he married American singer Katy Perry, which he called off via text message 14 months later. In an interview with Vogue in 2013, Katy Perry spoke of a “magical man”, funny but also “very controlling” and a “real truth” – hidden – to explain the end of her marriage. He then had a relationship with Jemima Goldsmith (daughter of billionaire James Goldsmith), who separated after a year.
Russell Brand has since remarried to blogger Laura Gallacher and the couple is expecting a third child.
conspiracy theories
In his impassioned videos on social networks, which often achieve millions of “views”, the conspiracy theory supporter, vegan and meditation practitioner, denounces or recounts the alleged attacks on freedoms in the name of Covid, the traditional media, the political of a future that resembles an apocalypse. He also gives advice on marriage and well-being…
On Tuesday, the YouTube platform announced that it was stopping monetization of his channel due to the allegations made against him. “When a creator’s off-platform behavior harms our users, employees, or ecosystem, we take action to protect the community,” YouTube said in a statement.
The BBC also announced that it was removing certain content from its platform after allegations were made against it, particularly of rape.
In a more than year-long investigation carried out by Channel 4, The Sunday Times and The Times, four women accused him of rape and sexual assault between 2006 and 2013. London police said Monday that they had been arrested over another suspected assault in 2003.
The youngest of his alleged victims was 16 years old at the time of the incident.