LONDON (AP) – British police announced Monday that they had received allegations of sexual assault against Russell Brand after the media published allegations made by multiple women against him. Promoters have postponed the remainder of the comedian’s series of gigs, but he denies the allegations.
The British entertainment industry faces questions about whether Brand’s fame allowed the comedian’s misdeeds to go unchecked, after a talent agency and publisher also parted ways with Brand over the allegations.
Brand, 48, denied sexual assault allegations by four women in a Channel 4 TV documentary and in The Times and Sunday Times newspapers. Her accusers have not been named, but include a woman who claims she was sexually assaulted when she was 16 years old while dating Brando. Another woman claims Brando raped her in Los Angeles in 2012.
The Metropolitan Police said that since the allegations were made public, it had received “reports of a sexual assault that allegedly occurred in Soho, central London, in 2003”. This was three years before the earliest assault allegation reported by media outlets.
“Officers have made contact with the woman and will provide assistance,” police said. The company did not identify Brand as the alleged perpetrator, but referred to newspaper and television allegations in a statement. Police are appealing to anyone who believes they have been the victim of a sexual crime, no matter how long ago, to contact us.
In a video statement released Friday in response to media claims, Brand said their relationship “has always been consensual.”
The Times reported on Monday that an increasing number of women are contacting the paper with allegations against brands and that they will be “scrutinized”.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s press secretary Max Blaine said the allegations were “very serious and concerning”. Conservative MP Caroline Noakes, chair of the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee, called on police forces in both the UK and the US to investigate the “incredibly shocking” allegations.
“This deserves and needs a criminal investigation, because for too long we have had men – and the perpetrators of these types of crimes are almost exclusively men – at the mercy of their actions and actions. Because I’ve seen impunity,” she told BBC radio.
These claims renew the debate about the “youth culture” that flourished in Britain in the 1990s and early 2000s, and the misogyny that still permeates the internet.
The allegations, reported by the newspaper and Channel 4, cover the period from 2006 to 2013, when Brando was a huge star in the UK and a rising star in the US.
Known for his free-spirited and racy stand-up routines, he has hosted radio and television programs, written memoirs about his struggles with drugs and alcohol, appeared in several Hollywood films, and since 2010 He was briefly married to pop star Katy Perry in 2012.
Brand was suspended from the BBC in 2008 for making lewd prank calls to Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs in which he boasted about having sex with Mr Sachs’ granddaughter. He quit his radio show following the incident, which led to thousands of complaints against the publicly funded station.
The BBC, Channel 4 and the makers of the spin-off Big Brother reality series, which Brando hosted, have all said they have launched investigations into Brando’s conduct and how complaints are handled.
He was also dropped by talent agency Tavistock Wood, which said it had been “grossly misled” by him. Bluebird, the publisher of Pan Macmillan, said it had decided to “pause” future publications with the brand.
Supporters of the brand asked why the allegations were raised so many years after the alleged incident. The women said they only felt ready to tell their stories when reporters approached them, and some of them talked about the brand’s newfound attention as online wellness influencers. Some people cited this as a factor in their decision.
Victims and the media should also consider the UK’s whistleblower-friendly defamation laws, which place the burden of proof on the accuser.
Although the brand has largely disappeared from mainstream media in recent years, it has built a large following online with videos that mix health and conspiracy theories. His YouTube channel, which has more than 6 million subscribers, features COVID-19 conspiracy theories, vaccine misinformation, and interviews with controversial broadcasters such as Tucker Carlson and Joe Rogan. I’ve been doing it.
He also continues to tour as a comedian, performing in front of hundreds of people at a London venue on Saturday night when the Channel 4 documentary aired. He was scheduled to perform in Windsor, west London, on Tuesday, but promoters announced the remaining dates on the tour would be postponed.
Ellie Thomsett, a senior lecturer in media and communications at Birmingham City University who studies the British stand-up circuit, says the brand is a product of a live comedy scene rife with misogyny, and that the brand is a product of a live comedy scene riddled with misogyny, and that it has been criticized by women and others. He said that this is still the case even though misogyny has become more diverse. Comical scenery.
“While there has been a rise in popular feminism, there has also been a rise in popular misogyny, represented by people like[social media influencer]Andrew Tate, which is evident in all facets of society. It’s definitely reflected in British comedy as well,” Tomsett said.
“There are more and more things coming out to try to counter this, but the idea that this happened in the past and won’t happen again is frankly nonsense,” she added.
