Russell Brand accused of rape and sexual assault

Not even remotely a surprise.

I know it's a second hand story but I'm always reminded of the story my brother's ex-wife told us. She used to work at a major theatre here in the UK that Russel Brand performed at. Gig went off reasonably well, but at the end of the gig, Brand requested that the staff have all the women who wanted to meet him after the show line up against the wall. He came out of his dressing room and picked, and I'm quoting said ex here verbatim "the 4 youngest looking ones" and took them into his dressing room to "party".

There were used condoms in there afterwards.
 
Wasn't there a similar thing about Brand a few years ago? I thought that's why the rest of us stopped hearing about him a while back.

Why are all the claimed instances of incident reporting to agents or the BBC (save the singular rape crisis center documentation) instead of the police? Is that a UK thing or is it just the reporters taking police reports as a given so they don't need to be commented on? ETA: Or can't be commented on?
 
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TalosMarr said:
Wasn't there a similar thing about Brand a few years ago? I thought that's why the rest of us stopped hearing about him a while back.
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It sounded like Deja Vu to me also, but looking around, all I can find about him in the past are a couple of run-ins with reporters or photographers.
 
Of course Brand sees it as a conspiracy.

https://apnews.com/article/8e501489fc489fb66fe33f4e113d04e9

"Brand also suggested that the reports were part of a coordinated attack designed to discredit him because of his views. Brand has been criticized for expressing skepticism about COVID-19 vaccines and interviewing contentious podcasters like Joe Rogan.

"“To see that transparency metastasized into something criminal, that I absolutely deny, makes me question is there another agenda at play,” Brand said."
 
Orphia Nay said:
Of course Brand sees it as a conspiracy.
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Does he “see it as a conspiracy”? Or is it more likely that he knows whether they are true. Or not.

I can’t stand Brand, but I think allegations like this are better off being handled by the police, otherwise they come across as gossip. His fans will see it as a conspiracy and his enemies will say “yep, not surprised at all!”

ETA: that said, there seems to be something undeniable about many of the allegations.
 
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TalosMarr said:
Why are all the claimed instances of incident reporting to agents or the BBC (save the singular rape crisis center documentation) instead of the police? Is that a UK thing or is it just the reporters taking police reports as a given so they don't need to be commented on? ETA: Or can't be commented on?
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Maybe a result of investigative reporting: One woman's story leading to the next. I doubt that the women were the ones who reported it to the the BBC.
DR, the 'Danish BBC', had a podcast a few years ago about online extortion of women. They were made to humiliate and cut themselves on video. It was reported DR by a man who had seen some of those videos. The victims weren't the ones who reported it in the first place.
DR investigated the case, which was then handed over to the police.
Mænd der ødelægger kvinder [Men who destroy women] (DR.dk, Jan 19, 2020)

I have no idea if Brand is guilty of what he has been accused of, but stranger things have happened.
By the way, this is far from his first conspiracy theory:
Jonathan Allum, Dr Helen Hintjens, Dr Daniel Gay and Andy Ruff respond to an article by George Monbiot on the comedian’s far-right conspiracy theories
(...)
"Brand interviewed Jordan Peterson not long ago, and it felt like love. Both expressed that wounded male pride that underpins the exploitation of feelings of sexual inadequacy in (older, white) men by the far right. And it works. See the US philosopher Jason Stanley’s book, How Fascism Works."
Russell Brand’s descent into conspiracy politics (TheGuardian, Mar 14, 2023)
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MarkCorrigan said:
Not even remotely a surprise.

I know it's a second hand story but I'm always reminded of the story my brother's ex-wife told us. She used to work at a major theatre here in the UK that Russel Brand performed at. Gig went off reasonably well, but at the end of the gig, Brand requested that the staff have all the women who wanted to meet him after the show line up against the wall. He came out of his dressing room and picked, and I'm quoting said ex here verbatim "the 4 youngest looking ones" and took them into his dressing room to "party".

There were used condoms in there afterwards.
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It's no secret he was very sexually active; he wrote and spoke about it himself. I'm not seeing any suggestion of coercion or abuse in your story.
 
zooterkin said:
It's no secret he was very sexually active; he wrote and spoke about it himself. I'm not seeing any suggestion of coercion or abuse in your story.
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The suggestion was in relation to age. One of the recent accusers was 16 and she says it felt like he'd been grooming her.
 
The Times and Channel 4 have been keen to emphasise the thoroughness of their investigation. I suspect that is because they know there will be a backlash from Brand himself and his supporters.

I fear there is a bigger picture, where faith in the police and courts is at an all-time low, so the press can fill the void with trial by media.

The claims need to be followed up by a criminal investigation and if those who gave statements to the journalists, back down when speaking to the police, or faced with giving evidence in court, then we see why we need to respect innocent until proven.
 
I was part of a small circle of friends who used to go to various Mark Thomas gigs. I thought it would be nice to check out Russell Brand as he seemed to be equally 'edgy' and socially perspicacious. This was some eleven years ago. So I bought a couple of tickets. So I made my way to Fairfields Hall Croydon after work via a cattle truck from London Bridge to East Croydon and then a connecting link. My friend hadn't been sure if she could come and she didn't turn up. Later she said she couldn't stand him. Anyway, Brand was late. We kept being told in a half empty theatre that he was due to arrive soon. Two hours later he turned up. The act was dire. It involved him ringing up some local woman whilst pretending to be a radio station - this was even after the 2008 Andrew Sachs incident, when he rang up Sachs tto say he'd slept with his granddaughter - it was mildly funny initially but the whole thing fell flat. I hardly had a chuckle at all. I realised he only bothered to turn up at all because he didn't want to refund us our tickets. I was lucky to get the last train home, having to traverse dark empty trains stations and dimly lit streets at one o'clock in the morning. I have despised Russell Brand ever since.

Strangely, I have managed to find an EVENING STANDARD review of that gig headed 'Not Brand's Finest Hour'. It's telling that what the reviewer recalls is Brand's recounting of a session with 'two fat prostitutes in Reading'.

B
usy times for Russell Brand. A best-selling autobiography to plug, meeting the Queen and Richard and Judy. It was no surprise that he was inconsistent in Croydon on Friday. Not even a banner demanding "Pull down your trousers and pants" could fire him up. Which was a shame, because Brand was intermittently brilliant at mixing erudition and sleaze. Few stand-ups can say "I was having it off with two fat prostitutes in Reading" and turn a sordid event into a picaresque anecdote. He may not be a great role model, but he can certainly tell a great story.
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https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/comedy/not-brand-s-finest-hour-7401926.html
 
Lots of right wing, blue tickers and GB News presenters rushing to support Brand on Twitter. Presumed innocent, trial by media etc.

All the same ones that were eager to pile on against Huw Edwards and Phillip Schofield recently.
 
AIUI according to CPS statistics, reporting a rape can take years to go to trial. Something like only 1% of all rape reports lead to convictions. These tend to be where there is clear violence involved and stranger upon stranger, when of course, many rape incidents are date rapes or people the victim knows; for example, work colleagues. The police don't want to get involved because it is so hard to convict.

Russell Brand with his post-hippy 'free love' personna and 'love the one you're with' could get away with it, like so many rock stars, footballers, actors, celebrities, royalty, because he was famous and not completely unattractive (if you squint your eyes a bit and look sideways, after a few drinks). It is an unspoken truism that with fame, comes power and lots of attractive women. With everyone 'at it', where do the police even begin?
 
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Review of the TV programme - https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-...-review-so-many-red-flags-ignored-for-so-long

"Don’t be afraid of your own sexuality,” we see him tell a guest on his chatshow, in a clip dug up by Dispatches. “Do be a bit afraid of mine though.” During an interview on Conan O’Brien’s US talkshow, Brand told the host: “You don’t wanna be around when the laughter stops.” One old standup routine, joking about enjoying “them blowjobs where mascara runs a little bit”, spookily echos the exact words of one of the programme’s allegations.

The title In Plain Sight has been carefully chosen. Dispatches has found further evidence of Brand not hiding his misogyny, drawn from the same stint as a Radio 2 presenter that led to his biggest previous controversy in 2008, when he was fired for broadcasting crass voicemails he’d left for the actor Andrew Sachs. In retrospect, it is amazing Brand lasted as long as he did: Dispatches plays the audio of him making demeaning sexual remarks about his show’s female newsreader, and conducting an interview with a celebrity guest where he joked about sending his (named) female assistant to visit the star, stripped naked. The interviewee in question: Jimmy Savile.
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I think for a lot of them it's because Brand said bad things about the vax, big pharma, the EU, and the 'establishment, so they know he’s innocent and being persecuted to 'cancel' him.
 
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