More women have come forward with allegations against Russell Brand, following the release of Channel 4’s Dispatches documentary.
The film aired on Saturday night and in it, four women accused the comedian of sexual assault and rape – as well as controlling, abusive and predatory behaviour.
The alleged incidents, which were uncovered as part of an investigation by The Times and Channel 4, are said to have taken place between 2006 and 2013.
At the time of the alleged assaults, Russell was a BBC Radio 2 presenter, a Channel 4 presenter, acting in Hollywood films, and also presenting his own late night talk show Brand X.
Since the release of Dispatches, The Times said it has been contacted by “several women” with claims about Russell, but said their allegations have not yet been investigated and “will now be rigorously checked”.
Russell has vehemently denied the allegations against him, claiming that despite his “promiscuous” days, his relationships have always been “consensual”.
It comes as the Metropolitan Police responded to the accusations, saying they encourage victims of sexual assault to contact them.
A spokesperson said: “We are aware of media reporting of a series of allegations of sexual assault. At this time, we have not received any reports in relation to this. If anyone believes they have been the victim of a sexual assault, no matter how long ago it happened, we would encourage them to contact police.”
“We spoke with The Sunday Times on Saturday 16 September. We will be making further approaches to The Sunday Times and Channel 4 to ensure that any victims of crime who they have spoken with are aware of how they may report any criminal allegations to police.”
The BBC said in a statement: “The documentary and associated reports contained serious allegations, spanning a number of years. Russell Brand worked on BBC radio programmes between 2006 and 2008 and we are urgently looking into the issues raised.”
A Channel 4 spokesperson said: “We have asked the production company who produced the programmes for Channel 4 to investigate these allegations and report their findings properly and satisfactorily to us.”
“Channel 4 is also conducting its own internal investigation, and we would encourage anyone who is aware of such behaviour to contact us directly.”
In a video shared to social media ahead of Dispatches airing, Russell said: “Now, this isn’t the usual type of video we make on this channel where we critique, attack and undermine the news in all its corruption because in this story, I am the news.”
“I’ve received two extremely disturbing letters or a letter and an email,” Russell explained. “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 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, often 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.”
“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 coordinated 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 from 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 being 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 standout 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 narrative that these two mainstream media outlets are trying to construct, apparently, in what seems to me to be a coordinated attack,” Russell continued.
“Now, I don’t wanna get into this any further because of the serious nature of the allegations, but I feel like I’m being attacked and plainly they’re working very closely together.”
“We are obviously going to look into this matter ’cause 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.”
Following the accusations, Russell was dropped by his talent agency.
The Women’s Aid 24hr National Freephone Helpline is 1800 341 900. For help and support you can also log onto www.womensaid.ie.
