Russell Brand accused of rape and sexual assault as ‘four women’ come forward

Comedian Russell Brand has been accused of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse at the height of his fame in an investigation by The Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches.

The media outlets have detailed allegations from four women who have come forward with claims about incidents taking place between 2006 and 2013.

At the time Russell Brand, now 48, was a presenter on BBC Radio 2 and Channel 4 and he had starred in several Hollywood films.

Brand has denied all allegations against him, saying he “absolutely refuted” the claims put to him by The Sunday Times and Channel 4 in their investigation.

One of the women interviewed in the joint investigation alleges Brand raped her in his Los Angeles home. A second alleges he assaulted her when he was 31 and she was 16 – and still at school.

A third alleges sexual assault in Los Angeles and a fourth described being sexually assaulted by the star, and him being “physically and emotionally abusive” towards her.

The performer last night shared a video statement denying “criminal” and “very serious” allegations, which he said had been put to him in the form of a letter and email from an unnamed television programme and newspaper.

Mr Brand’s statement

In a lengthy statement made on YouTube, he said: “I’ve received two extremely disturbing letters, or a letter, and an email, one from a mainstream media TV company, one from a newspaper, listing a litany of extremely egregious and aggressive attacks, as well as some pretty stupid stuff like, my community festival should be stopped, that I shouldn’t be able to attack mainstream media narratives on this channel, but amidst this litany of astonishing, rather baroque attacks are some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute.

“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. I was always transparent about that then, almost too transparent, and I’m being transparent about it now as well, and to see that transparency metastasized into something criminal, that I absolutely deny, makes me question, is there another agenda at play?

“Particularly when we’ve seen co-ordinated media attacks before, like with Joe Rogan, when he dared to take a medicine that the mainstream media didn’t approve of, and we saw a spate of headlines from media outlets across the world, using the same language. I’m aware that you guys have been saying in the comments for a while, “watch out Russell, they’re coming for you, you’re getting too close to the truth, Russell Brand did not kill himself”, I know that a year ago there was a spate of articles, “Russell Brand’s a conspiracy theorist”, “Russell Brand’s right wing”.

“I’m aware of news media making phone calls, sending letters to people I know for ages and ages, it’s been clear to me, or at least it feels to me, like there’s a serious and concerted agenda to control these kind of spaces, and these kind of voices, and I mean my voice along with your voice.

“I don’t mind them using my books and my stand up to talk about my promiscuous, consensual conduct in the past, what I seriously refute are these very very serious criminal allegations.

“Also it’s worth mentioning that there are witnesses whose evidence directly contradicts the narratives that these two mainstream media outlets are trying to construct, apparently in what seems to me to be a co-ordinated attack.

“Now, I don’t want to get into this any further because of the serious nature of the allegations, but I feel like I’m being attacked, and plainly they are working very closely together. We are obviously going to look into this matter, because it’s very very serious. In the meantime I want you to stay close, stay awake, but more important than any of that, if you can, please stay free.”

Watch Russell Brand: In Plain Sight: Dispatches at 9pm on Channel 4

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