THE BBC has launched an investigation into claims of inappropriate behaviour and grooming made against Russell Brand.
The comedian, 48, presented radio shows for the national broadcaster between 2006 and 2008.
He is also being probed by a production company which ran Big Brother spin-offs on Channel 4[/caption]
In a report from The Times and accompanying Dispatches documentary, Brand was accused of rape, sexual assault and abuse by four women, including one who was just 16 at the time.
That relationship is alleged to have taken place in 2006, while he was presenting a programme on Radio 6 Music.
The girl, known as Alice, accused Brand of forcing her to perform oral sex until she choked and saying he did it to “see her mascara run”.
She also claimed that he forced her to read Lolita, a Russian novel in which the main character kidnaps and sexually abuses a 12-year-old girl.
Three other women also came forward with allegations, including one who claimed that Brand raped her against a wall in his LA apartment.
The attacks allegedly took place between 2006 and 2013, when the former film star was at the height of his fame.
A spokesperson for the corporation said: “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.”
It comes after production company Banijay UK, who ran Big Brother spin-off shows fronted by Brand in the early 2000s, launched a probe after similar allegations of misconduct emerged about his time at Channel 4.
A company statement read: “In light of the very serious allegations…relating to the alleged serious misconduct of Russell Brand produced by Endomol between 2004 and 2005 Banijay UK has launched an urgent internal investigation.
“We also ask anyone who feels that they were affected by Brand’s behaviour while working on these productions to contact us in confidence.”
They added that they would “cooperate” with any requests for information from their broadcast partners or any “external agencies”.
And a Channel 4 spokesperson said that the organisation was “appalled” by the allegations.
They added: “We are determined to understand the full nature of what went on. We have carried out extensive document searches and have found no evidence to suggest the alleged incidents were brought to the attention of Channel 4.
“We will continue to review this in light of any further information we receive, including the accounts of those affected individuals.
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.”
They went on to emphasise that there has been “extensive change” in the channel’s management since the alleged offences took place.
Russell Brand's video transcript in full
Hello there, you awakening wonders.
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 have received two extremely disturbing letters – well 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 have 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 have 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 are coming for you, you are 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 is 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 coordinated 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.
Former employees spoke of how they felt like “pimps” for Brand as they were tasked with selecting female audience members that caught his eye.
One described the experience as “like leading lambs to slaughter.”
And a former runner on one programme accused Brand of flashing her in his dressing room and claimed that his behaviour was an “open secret” among TV execs.
Named as Rachel, she said: “Production companies enabled him to exist in these environments where he was able to take advantage of who he was.”
A spokesperson for Banijay UK said: “In light of the very serious allegations…relating to the alleged serious misconduct of Russell Brand produced by Endomol between 2004 and 2005 Banijay UK has launched an urgent internal investigation.
“We also ask anyone who feels that they were affected by Brand’s behaviour while working on these productions to contact us in confidence.”
They added that they would “cooperate” with any requests for information from their broadcast partners or any “external agencies”.
Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Police have addressed the accusations in The Times’ report.
A spokesperson for the force 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.”
They added that cops had spoken to the publications involved to ensure that the alleged victims journalists had interviewed were made aware of how to report their claims to the police.
For his part, Brand posted a YouTube video before the allegations were published, slamming them as “untrue”.
He suggested that the claims were part of a “coordinated media attack” against him and stated that all his relationships have been “consensual”.
September 17, 2023 at 08:39PM
from The Sun