Russell Brand has been accused of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse over a seven-year period at the height of his fame.
The allegations between 2006 and 2013 were the result of a joint investigation by the Sunday Times, the Times and Channel 4 Dispatches. Brand denies the allegations.
Five alleged victims, four of them anonymous, were interviewed in the Dispatches documentary aired on Saturday night.
The Times titles said they contacted the media personality’s representatives with details of the allegations – as well as information to help him recall the incidents in question – in advance of its planned publication, giving them eight days to respond.
Brand’s lawyers initially claimed to be unable to do so, the papers reported, because of the “large litany of questions” and the decision to agree to the women’s requests to anonymise them.
Brand’s lawyers characterised the way in which the request for comment was made as part of a “pre-conceived strategy aimed at damaging their client”, according to the report. They added that he believed there was a “deeply concerning agenda to all this, namely the fact that he is an alternative media broadcaster competing with mainstream media”. The Sunday Times said Brand’s lawyers did not reply to further requests for comment.
It was after being given further opportunity to respond to the allegations that Brand decided to broadcast a statement online on Friday, the Sunday Times said. It added that it received no answer when the papers asked for the evidence Brand claimed contradicted their reporting.
According to the paper’s report, one of the women said Brand entered into a relationship with her while he was 31 and she was still a 16-year-old schoolgirl. She reportedly said he referred to her as “the child” during an alleged emotionally abusive and controlling three-month relationship.
She told Dispatches the presenter once “forced his penis down her throat”, making her choke, which led her to punch him in the stomach to make him stop.
Another woman alleged Brand raped her in 2012 in his Los Angeles home, the Sunday Times reported, adding that she received treatment at a rape crisis centre the same day.
The paper said she messaged him to say she had been scared by him and felt taken advantage of, adding: “When a girl say[s] NO it means no.” Brand reportedly replied saying he was “very sorry”, the paper reported.
The woman, who said she met him at an after party for his Brand X chatshow, told Dispatches she did not report the alleged rape to police due to being scared because of the actor’s fame.
A third woman said Brand sexually assaulted her while she worked with him in Los Angeles, and that he threatened to take legal action if she told anyone else about her allegation, the paper reported. A fourth woman described being “sexually assaulted” by Brand, and him being “physically and emotionally abusive” towards her, the Sunday Times said.
The paper said several others had accused Brand of physical and emotional abuse, sexual harassment and bullying, adding that those who had come forward did not know each other and had mostly chosen to remain anonymous.
The paper also reported that the woman who said she met Brand when aged 16 – whom it gave the pseudonym Alice – contacted Brand’s former agency Tavistock Wood in 2020 to alert them to his behaviour she had alleged, and seeking an apology.
She said she was promised a response when he returned from a wellness retreat. When one came, she said, it was from lawyers representing Brand, who issued a denial on his behalf, and accused her of seeking financial gain.
Television researchers and runners who worked on Channel 4 shows alleged that Brand would ask staff to approach young female audience members that he found attractive so he could meet them after filming.
Contacted on Saturday by the Guardian, Tavistock Wood said: “Russell Brand categorically and vehemently denied the allegation made in 2020, but we now believe we were horribly misled by him. TW has terminated all professional ties to Brand.”
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19 Sep 2023, 1:45 am
