UPDATE 12:00 p.m. – The Times published a report accusing Russell Brand of rape, sexual assault and abuse.
The British newspaper spoke with four women, one of whom was 16 at the time, who detailed their alleged accounts in The Times’ joint investigation with Channel 4’s Dispatches.
Original Story continues below:
Russell Brand has denied “very serious criminal” allegations about his past.
“I’ve received two extremely disturbing letters, or a letter and an email, one from a mainstream media TV company [and] one from a newspaper, listing a litany of extremely egregious and aggressive attacks,” Brand, 48, said in a Friday, September 15, video posted via X (formerly Twitter). “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.”
Without explicitly detailing the allegations or who sent them, Brand claimed that they “pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream” as an actor.
“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,” he said. “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 [if] there is another agenda at play?”
Brand further noted that he doesn’t mind media articles quoting his memoirs or stand-up routines to discuss his “promiscuous, consensual conduct in the past,” but does “seriously” deny the “very, very, serious criminal allegations.”
The claims are allegedly set to be publicly shared in the Saturday, September 16, premiere of the U.K.’s Dispatches documentary on Channel 4, per multiple reports.
According to Channel 4’s TV listings for Saturday, a description of Dispatches reads, “New: Dispatches Special. A 90-minute Dispatches investigation,” alongside a “More Info” button. The button is currently broken and redirects to a “Page Not Found” tab. Dispatches airs at 9 p.m. BST.
Brand, for his part, condemned the stories as false. “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,” he claimed. “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.”
Brand noted that he planned to “obviously” investigate the “very, very serious” matter but has not further addressed the allegations.
The actor’s sister-in-law, Kirsty Gallacher, has supported Brand in light of the scandal. After he uploaded the social media video to Instagram on Friday, she reposted it onto her Instagram Stories with a red heart emoji.
Brand wed Kirsty’s sister, Laura Gallacher, in 2017. The actor — who was previously married to Katy Perry — and Laura share two daughters: Mabel, 6, and Peggy, 4. Brand announced in June that they are expecting baby No. 3.
If you have experienced sexual assault, call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 for confidential support.
