On Monday, in the wake of a number of rape allegations leveled against Russell Brand, U.K. Metropolitan Police announced they’ve launched a probe into a series of “non-recent” sexual offenses. Though the statement didn’t directly name Brand, it did reference the joint investigation by the U.K.’s The Times, The Sunday Times, and Channel 4's Dispatches into the comedian, actor, and author.
“Following an investigation by Channel 4’s Dispatches and The Sunday Times, the Met has received a number of allegations of sexual offences in London,” the statement reads. “We have also received a number of allegations of sexual offences committed elsewhere in the country and will investigate these. The offences are all non-recent.”
In the Times piece and accompanying Dispatches documentary, both published last weekend, four women accused Brand of sexual assault between 2006 to 2013. One alleged Brand raped her at her Los Angeles home (she provided evidence to the outlets that she’d visited a rape-treatment center), while another accused Brand of forcing her to perform oral sex on him when she was just 16 years old. Two women—the aforementioned and another—claimed Brand also abused them emotionally. The investigation included texts—one of which Brand was accused of sending following an alleged assault: “I’m sorry. That was crazy and selfish. I hope you can forgive me, I know that you’re a lovely person. X”
Brand swiftly denied all of the allegations in a video posted to his YouTube account. Though he admitted to being “very, very promiscuous” during the time of the alleged assaults, he rejected the accusations that consent wasn’t established.
“But amidst this litany of astonishing, rather baroque attacks are some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute,” Brand said in the video. He did not respond to Jezebel’s request for comment.
“We continue to encourage anyone who believes they may have been a victim of a sexual offence, no matter how long ago it was, to contact us,” the Metropolitan Police statement said. “We understand it can feel like a difficult step to take and I want to reassure that we have a team of specialist officers available to advise and support.”
Over the weekend, one of Brand’s accusers—a woman who’s now in her 30s but was 16 when she alleged he assaulted her—wrote an op-ed published by the Times calling for the U.K.’s age of consent to change from 16 to 18.
“I believe 16 and 17-year-olds should be allowed to explore their sexuality but without undue influence from much older people,” the woman, identified as Alice, wrote.
“There was nothing my parents could do to stop the relationship with Russell; no legal recourse,” she explained. “My mother tried everything — grounding me, taking away my phone, even going to see Russell to remind him that I had parents who loved me — but like many 16-year-olds, I was headstrong and thought I was so mature. He told me I was grown up and I believed it. My mum couldn’t go to the police, much as she wanted to, because what would she have said? My daughter is 16 but in a relationship with an adult man? It wasn’t illegal.”
Following the reports of Brand’s alleged assaults last week, a spokesperson for Rishi Sunak, the U.K. Prime Minister, called the allegations “serious and concerning” and encouraged people with information to involve the authorities. “The Prime Minister has been clear there should never be any space for harassment, regardless of where it is found.”
Meanwhile, in a new video posted to Rumble—a video site that’s been criticized for platforming harmful conspiracy theories—Brand accused “legacy media,” the government, and big tech of silencing him and other “independent media voices.”
“What we appear to be looking at here are a set of collaborating institutions that have an agenda, and pursue that agenda, even when in pursuing it they have to bypass, obstruct, or absolutely ignore existing judicial or regulatory bodies by moving straight to punitive measures.”
Brand has since been dropped by his agent, and his book publisher, Bluebird, paused the publication of his self-help book, Recovery: The Workbook: A Practical Guide to Finding Freedom from Our Addictions. YouTube has also demonetized his channel and all content in which he’s featured was removed from the BBC and Channel 4’s streaming platforms.