Comedian Russell Brand accused of rape, sexual assaults and emotional abuse

Comedian and actor Russell Brand has been accused of sexual assault, rape and emotional abuse by several women at the height of his career.

Four women have come forward with allegations, dating between 2006 and 2013, when Mr Brand was a regular face on British television as the host of shows including Big Brother’s Big Mouth, and in films such as Forgetting Sarah Marshall and St Trinian’s.

Ahead of the publication of a long-running investigation, carried out by The Sunday Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches, Mr Brand released a YouTube video in which he said he was facing “some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute”.

He said: “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’ve 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.”

Mr Brand, who has a YouTube channel on which he has questioned the efficacy of Covid vaccines and criticised Ukraine, also claimed “there are witnesses whose evidence directly contradicts the narratives that these two mainstream media outlets are trying to construct”.

The Sunday Times reports that its journalists interviewed hundreds of sources who knew or worked with Mr Brand, reviewing private emails and text messages as well as medical records from one woman who attended a rape treatment centre after an alleged encounter with Mr Brand in June 2012.

The newspaper also published text messages between a number apparently belonging to Mr Brand and the woman, named as Nadia, who alleges that in June 2012 she was “pushed up against the wall” and raped by Mr Brand without a condom.

In the texts, she wrote: “When a girl say[s] NO it means no. Do I have to go and get myself tested?”

The number allegedly belonging to Mr Brand responded: “You don’t need to get tested. I will make this up to you somehow with live [sic] and kindness. Not my original idea which was more sex. You’ve been lovely to me and I’m embarrassed by my behaviour. Sorry. X.”

Mr Brand’s literary agent Tavistock Wood was allegedly contacted in 2020 by another of the women, who alleges she was sexually assaulted by Mr Brand in 2006 when she was aged 16 and he was in his early 30s.

The woman claimed Mr Brand forced a sex act on her and that she had to “punch him really hard in the stomach” to get him to stop.

A spokesperson for Tavistock Wood said: “Russell Brand categorically and vehemently denied the allegation made in 2020, but we now believe we were horribly misled by him. Tavistock Wood has terminated all professional ties to Brand.”

A third woman, named as Phoebe, who met Mr Brand through Alcoholics Anonymous and later worked with him, alleged that he sexually assaulted her in early 2013.

A fourth woman said she was sexually assaulted by Mr Brand and accused him of being physically and emotionally abusive.

During the time period that the allegations span, he worked both for BBC Radio 2 and Channel 4. He has more recently been operating as an online wellness influencer and has millions of followers on his social media platforms.

The Sunday Times reports that journalists spoke with a number of people who worked with Mr Brand during the height of his fame, who were concerned about his behaviour towards women.

A female comedian spoke to the paper about working with Mr Brand in the early 2000s, adding: “Whenever he saw me, he would grab me and bite my face and it was coupled up with this weird, horrible energy.

“I said to him, ‘I don’t like this’ and he still did it so much before he stopped. It was him crossing boundaries.”

She said that at parties, he “was like the Predator” from the 1987 sci-fi film, adding: “He would show up and you’d see him scan the room: who he hadn’t slept with, who he was going to sleep with. He should never have got to Hollywood – his behaviour should have stopped that.”

A spokesperson for Channel 4, which employed Mr Brand early in his career and is now airing the Dispatches special about him, said it was “appalled to learn” of “deeply troubling allegations including behaviour alleged to have taken place on programmes made for Channel 4,” adding that there is “no evidence to suggest the alleged incidents were brought to the attention of Channel 4.”

Mr Brand was dropped as a BBC radio presenter in 2008 after a high-profile incident in which he and Jonathan Ross left an on-air voicemail for the actor Andrew Sachs, then aged 78, in which they suggested Mr Brand had had sex with his granddaughter.

The Sunday Times reports that numerous complaints were made a year earlier about Mr Brand’s behaviour in the studio.

A BBC spokesperson said: “We hope that [removing Mr Brand from his post] demonstrates that the BBC takes issues seriously and is prepared to act. Indeed, we would add that in addition to acting on the serious editorial breach at the time, the BBC has, over successive years, evolved its approach to how it manages talent and indeed how it deals with complaints or issues raised.

“We will always listen to people if they come forward with any concerns, on any issue related to any individual working at the BBC — past or present.”