Rape allegations against Russell Brand: his former employers launch internal investigation

The BBC, Channel 4 and production company Banijay UK said on Sunday they would internally investigate allegations of rape and sexual assault made by several women against former British presenter and actor Russell Brand.

In a joint journalistic investigation Sunday weather AND The timesIn addition to Channel 4, four women accuse the actor of sexual assault between 2006 and 2013, when Russell Brand was at the height of his career, both as a presenter on BBC Radio 2, the Channel 4 channel and as a film actor in Hollywood.

“Russell Brand worked for BBC radio programs between 2006 and 2008 and we will urgently examine the issues raised” by this investigation, a spokesman for the BBC public broadcasting giant told AFP.

“Totally consensual” relationships

Channel 4 and the production company Banijay UK, which owns Endemol and which employed Russell Brand, have also indicated that they are carrying out their own internal investigations, according to British media.

Before the publication of these revelations, the 48-year-old former presenter, now mainly active on social networks, had denied that “completely consensual” relationships existed.

In the investigation, one woman accuses Russell Brand of raping her in his Los Angeles home, while another claims she was sexually assaulted during a three-month relationship when she was still a 16-year-old high school senior.

During his career as a comedian, on television and in film, in the United Kingdom and then in the United States, Russell Brand was noted for his repeated escapades, his former addiction to alcohol and heroin, his brief marriage to pop singer Katy Perry and his tendency to brag about his many feminine conquests.

The police “did not receive reports”

He has recently made numerous conspiratorial, anti-vaccine and anti-mainstream comments on his YouTube channel, followed by more than 6 million subscribers, or on his X account (ex-Twitter) with more than 11 million subscribers.

Asked by AFP, the Metropolitan Police indicated, without mentioning the actor’s name, that for the moment “they have not received any complaint” in relation to the accusations made in the media against him.

The matter provoked reactions even in the political world. Parliamentary culture, media and sport committee chair Caroline Dinenage said parliament will “closely monitor” the response to the allegations against Russell Brand.