British comedian, actor and YouTuber Russel Brand has been accused of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse by four separate women. The allegations were made in a joint investigation by the Sunday Times, the Times and the TV show Channel 4 Dispatches.
The broadcast, which aired on Sunday morning Australian time, alleged there were five victims in total. Four of them spoke to the BBC anonymously for the recording.
The incidents alleged in the show were said to have occurred between 2006 and 2013 when Brand, now 48, was at the peak of his mainstream fame.
According to the Times report, Brand is said to have been in a relationship with a 16-year-old schoolgirl while he was 31.
The woman alleged the three-month relationship was abusive and controlling and that he called her “the child” during their time together.
She alleged he “forced his penis down her throat”, causing her to punch him in the stomach to make him stop, per The Guardian.
After this, the woman began to cry before Brand allegedly admitted he just “wanted to see [her] mascara run anyway”.
A second woman claimed that Brand had raped her in Los Angeles at his home.
She said she later attended a rape crisis centre that same day.
According to BBC, Brand was approached for comment but instructed his lawyers to request more time to reply.
According to the organisation, he then “did not answer further emails”.
One day before Dispatches airing, Brand published a video to his YouTube channel titled “So, This Is Happening” on Saturday (AEST).
In the video, which has a run time of just under three minutes, Brand denied all allegations that had been made about him in some “extremely disturbing letters” he’d received from a “mainstream media” company.
“Amidst this litany of astonishing, rather baroque attacks are some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute,” the actor said.
“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 am being transparent about it now as well.”
Over the last few years, Brand has made a name for himself in the online world, giving commentary on everything from vaccines to Ivermectin, to various conspiracy theories.
Brand suggested in the video that the allegations were part of a coordinated attack by the mainstream media to discredit his views.
In the comments section of the video posted to Twitter (now X), the site’s owner Elon Musk wrote “Of course. They don’t like competition”.
Andrew Tate also added his two cents, writing “Matrix attack”.
More to come.
Help is available.
If you require immediate assistance, please call 000.
If you’d like to speak to someone about sexual violence, please call the 1800 Respect hotline on 1800 737 732 or chat online.
Under 25? You can reach Kids Helpline at 1800 55 1800 or chat online.
Header image credit: Mike Marsland/WireImage via Getty.