Police urge Russell Brand accusers to come forward
Police have urged Russell Brand's alleged victims to come forward following reports of rape and sexual assault allegations against the comic.
Police have urged Russell Brand's alleged victims to come forward following reports of rape and sexual assault allegations against the comic.
A joint investigation by The Times, The Sunday Times and Channel 4's 'Dispatches' programme, saw four women anonymously detail the alleged emotional, physical and sexual abuse they suffered at the hands of the 48-year-old comic between 2006 and 2013 at the height of his fame, and cops have confirmed they are "aware" of the allegations - which the 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall' star has denied - and urged victims to file reports with them.
A Metropolitan Police 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."
One woman alleges Russell raped her against a wall in his Los Angeles home.
The Times said she was treated at a rape crisis centre on the same day.
A second woman alleges the actor assaulted her when he was 31 and she was 16 and still at school.
She said he referred to her as “The Child” during an allegedly “emotionally abusive and controlling relationship” that reportedly lasted for about three months.
The woman alleges during one encounter, she tried to push Russell off her and had to punch him in the stomach to make him stop.
A third woman claims Russell sexually assaulted her while she worked with him in Los Angeles, and that he threatened to take legal action if she told anyone else about her allegation.
The fourth detailed how she was allegedly sexually assaulted by Russell and said he was physically and emotionally abusive towards her.
All said they felt ready to speak only after being approached by reporters.
The Times said about other women accusing him that he allegedly subjected them to “physical and emotional abuse” as well as “sexual harassment and bullying”.
It added in its investigation piece: “Most of the women, who do not know each other, have chosen to remain anonymous.”
Ahead of the outlet publishing their report, Brand shared a 2 minute, 45 second video on YouTube and X strongly denying the claims and arguing the allegations were part of a “serious, concerted agenda” to control “spaces” such as his online outlet.
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 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.
“Now, during that time of promiscuity, the relationships I had were absolutely always consensual. I was always transparent about that...
“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.
“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’re working very closely together."
