LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) – British comedian Russell Brand has been accused of rape, emotional abuse and sexual assault over seven years while he was in the spotlight.
Four women have alleged sexual assaults between 2006 and 2013, and the actor is also facing allegations of controlling, abusive and predatory behavior after a joint investigation by the Sunday Times, the Times and Channel 4 Dispatches.
In light of the allegations, Brand has come out and vehemently denied them all, posting a video online on Friday (September 15) saying he had been “very, very promiscuous,” but all of his encounters have been “absolutely, always consensual.”
2006 – A woman comes forward with information that Brand sexually assaulted her during a three-month relationship when she was 16 and still at school. Brand at the time was 31 and host of Big Brother’s Big Mouth.
The Sunday Times reports that she told them she met Brand, and he approached her in Leicester Square, where she had been shopping. She said Brand went through her shopping bags and critiqued everything she had purchased. She said he took out a dress and said, “You’re going to wear this on our date this week.”
She says she told her mother, who advised her to text Brand and tell him her age, but she claims that didn’t faze Brand and, on the date, asked her to confirm she was 16. The woman said that over the following weeks, Brand called her “the child” and alleged that he was controlling and sexually and emotionally abusive.
She said he sent a car to her school to take her out of her classes and asked her to save his name as “Carly” in her phone to deceive her parents. She also alleges Brand coached her on what to say to her parents and to hide the relationship from her friends. The woman and a family member described Brand’s behavior to the Times as “grooming.”
2007 – A woman named Jordan Martin has alleged Brand sexually assaulted her and was physically and emotionally abusive towards her during a six-month relationship in February 2007.
Martin made the allegations in a book published in 2014. She denied an interview by the investigative reporters, reported The Guardian, but told the Sunday Times that she stood by her account. Brand has never challenged the contents of the book.
2012 – A woman has stated that Brand raped her against her against a wall at his Los Angeles home in July 2012. She says that she told Brand to get off of her and that she wanted to leave, but he continued and briefly blocked the door to prevent her from leaving afterward.
She told the Sunday Times she was treated at a rape treatment center that says day and had therapy treatment there for five months. The Sunday Times reports that she contemplated criminal or civil proceedings but decided not to go that route due to potential repercussions.
After the incident, Brand sent her text messages, apologizing for what happened and describing his behavior as “crazy.” It happened the same month he divorced global superstar Katy Perry.
2013 – A woman told the investigative reporters that she had met Brand at an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting before they started working together. She claims Brand sexually assaulted her at his home in Los Angeles. She alleges he tried to kiss her and remove her clothes as he pinned her down, and she shouted at him to stop. I said, “What are you doing? Stop, please, you’re my friend.”
She alleges he eventually “flipped” and shouted at her, saying she was now fired. She claims that years later, she spoke with someone who had been working with Brand on a project. He allegedly apologized for not helping her and said, “I heard you screaming’ and “We were all scared of him.” She told the Times that she never formally reported him because she feared the repercussions.
2020 – The woman who claims Brand sexually assaulted her during a three-month relationship when she was 16 and reached out to his literary agent at the time, who was also the co-founder of the talent agency Tavistock Wood (TW). She alleges a Brand’s lawyer contacted her, denying the allegations and claiming she was a gold digger.
A statement given to the PA news agency by TW reads, “Russell Brand categorically and vehemently denied the allegations made in 2020, but we now believe we were horribly misled by him. TW has terminated all professional ties to Brand.”
2023 – The investigation was published in the Sunday Times, while the Dispatches documentary, Russell Brand – In Plain Sight, aired on Channel 4 on Saturday (September 16).
Brand performed on Saturday at a sold-out show at the 2,000 Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre in London – hours after the allegations hit the news. His PR company dropped him, and The Trevi women and children’s charity came out and said it had ended its association with Brand and his charitable fund, the Stay Free Foundation. Trevi, based in England, said it was “deeply saddened and upset” by the news. Brand’s Stay Free Foundation works to support people “through recovery from addiction, their mental health issues and the non-profit organizations that help them.”
However, some have come to his defense, including Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X (fka Twitter), who responded to his video on social media with “Of Course. They don’t like competition.” Musk also replied to another tweet, saying, “No more canceling. Enough is enough.”
Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host, posted on X suggesting the allegations were linked to Brand’s view on topics such as “drug companies … and the war in Ukraine.” The GB News host Beverley Turner also came to Brand’s aid, saying, “he’s welcome on her show anytime.”
Once the allegations were published, the BBC said they were “urgently looking into the issues raised” by the investigative reports. A BBC spokesperson said that the reports “contained serious allegations, spanning several years … Russell Brand worked on BBC radio programs between 2006 and 2008, and we are urgently looking into the issues raised.”
The night before publication, Brand denied the claims in a video posted on his social media, saying this was a “coordinated attack” by the media. Regarding the allegations, Brand said the “very serious allegations that I absolutely refute.
He continued: “These allegations pertain 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.
“Now, during that time of promiscuity, the relationships I had were absolutely, always consensual. I was always transparent about that then, almost too transparent, and I am being transparent about it now as well. To see that transparency metastasized into something criminal, that I absolutely deny, makes me question is there another agenda at play.”
Brand is currently in the middle of a national comedy stand-up tour. He is due to appear in Windsor, Wolverhampton and Plymouth, but there have been calls online for the venues to cancel his shows.
