Russell Brand’s scandals- night in jail, Sachsgate, conspiracy theories

Russell Brand shot to fame with his eccentric facade and witty monologues on stage as a stand-up comedian – but he often found himself spouting eyebrow-raising lines for laughs and was embroiled in scandals along the way.

On Saturday, the 48-year-old star hit headlines again as he has been accused of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse at the height of his fame in a joint investigation by The Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches. Four women are alleged to have come forward with claims, with the incidents taking place between 2006 and 2013.

The star last night shared a video statement on this YouTube channel where he vehemently denied ‘criminal’ and ‘very serious’ allegations that he said had been put to him by two media outlets, describing it as a “coordinated attack”. Amid the new allegations, we take a look at some of his scandals over the years…

Sachsgate

A segment during Brand’s BBC Radio 2 show – The Russell Brand Show – resulted in himself alongside guest Jonathan Ross being suspended from the BBC. The pair made a series of phone calls on air to Fawlty Towers star Andrew Sachs, where Brand claimed he had sex with the actor’s granddaughter – musician Georgina Baillie.

The stunt was met with backlash from the public, including then Prime Minister Gordon Brown, which saw the press label it ‘Sachsgate’. The pair of presenters were suspended by the broadcaster as a result before Brand ended up resigning from his own show. Ofcom later fined the BBC £150k over the incident.

Divorce text

Brand and US singer Katy Perry shared a whirlwind romance together, with a marriage lasting just 14 months. He popped the question on New Year’s Eve in 2009, just three months after their first date.

But their union ended bitterly with Katy Perry revealing her ex-husband ended their marriage with a brutal text message sent to her on New Year’s Eve. The content of the text hasn’t been revealed, but it’s understood to have been a single message from Russell to Katy telling her he was filing for divorce – just moment she was about to perform on stage.

Speaking about their relationship in 2013, she said: “He’s a very smart man, and I was in love with him when I married him. Let’s just say I haven’t heard from him since he texted me saying he was divorcing me December 31, 2011.”

Night in jail

In 2010, Brand was charged with suspected battery following an altercation with a paparazzi at Los Angeles airport. He was held overnight behind bars before posting bail, with the charge later dropped. At the time, Katy Perry offered up an explanation for the incident, tweeting: “If you cross the line and try an put a lens up my dress, my fiance will do his job and protect me.”

Drug and sex addiction

It has been well documented that Brand had struggles with substance abuse, while he also admitted to being a sex addict. After leaving home at 16, Brand ended up falling into drug abuse where he would take illegal drugs such as cannabis, amphetamines, LSD, and ecstasy.

Making light of his scandals, he would incorporate them into his stand-up. One included a time when he confessed during a show that he introduced his drug dealer to Kylie Minogue during his time on MTV, as well as being arrested 12 times for drug-related issues.

Clash with Geldof

When Russell hosted the NME Awards in 2006, to say there was already a bit of animosity with Bob Geldof would be an understatement. The Irishman simply opened his speech with: “Russell Brand, what a ****.” The comedian fired back: “It’s no wonder Bob Geldof knows so much about famine – he’s been dining out on I Don’t Like Mondays for 30 years.”

Conspiracy comments

Moving away from comedy, Brand in recent years has become known as an activist, and set up his own YouTube series The Trews: True News with Russell Brand in February 2014. It has gone on to be criticised for promoting conspiracy theories, and has been associated with far-right figures on the platform.

During an interview on Newsnight, Brand urged viewers not to vote in the general election as he called for a ‘revolution’. And in another Newsnight appearance, Evan Davis questioned him about 9/11 conspiracies, where he was asked if he believed it was orchestrated by the Government. He responded: “We have to remain open-minded to that kind of possibility.”

At the time of the tragic event, the next day Brand shocked the world when he turned up to work as a presenter for MTV dressed as al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden. And amid the coronavirus pandemic, Brand became known as an ‘anti-vaxxer’ – which just saw a spike in popularity in his channel – where he often criticised large pharmaceutical companies.

Allegations of rape and sexual assault

It has been revealed Brand has been accused of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse at the height of his fame in an investigation by The Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches. Four women are alleged to have come forward with claims, with the incidents taking place between 2006 and 2013.

One woman claimed Mr Brand raped her at his home in Los Angeles, allegedly against the wall of his home. The alleged victim is said to have received treatment at a rape crisis centre on the same day, and claiming Brand said he was “very sorry” for causing distress.

A second woman claims Brand, aged 31, assaulted her when she was just 16 and still at school. The alleged victim claims he often referred to her as “the child” during their emotionally abusive relationship which lasted three months. She later claimed to The Sunday Times that Russell “forced his penis down her throat”, which made her choke.

Speaking to the outlet, a third claims that she was sexually assaulted by Brand in Los Angeles and added that he threatened her with legal action if she decided to speak out. Meanwhile, a fourth alleged victim claimed she was allegedly assaulted by Brand and that he was physically and emotionally abusive towards her.

In the YouTube video shared on Friday night, he said: “Now, this isn’t the usual type of video we make on this channel where we critique, attack and undermine the news in all its corruption because in this story, I am the news. 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. 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, is there another agenda at play? Particularly when we’ve seen coordinated media attacks before, like with Joe Rogan, when he dared to take a medicine that the mainstream media didn’t approve of, and we saw a spate of headlines from media outlets across the world using the same language.

“I’m aware that you guys have been saying in the comments for a while, watch out, Russell. They’re coming from you. You’re getting too close to the truth. Russell Brand did not kill himself. I know that a year ago there was a spate of articles. Russell Brand’s a conspiracy theorist, Russell Brand’s right wing. I’m aware of news media making phone calls, sending letters to people I know for ages and ages. It’s being clear to me, or at least it feels to me like there’s a serious and concerted agenda to control these kind of spaces and these kind of voices. And I mean, my voice along with your voice.”

Brand added: “I don’t mind them using my books and my standout to talk about my promiscuous consensual conduct in the past. 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 wanna 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. We are obviously going to look into this matter ’cause it’s very, very serious. In the meantime, I want you to stay close, stay awake, but more important than any of that, if you can, please stay free.”

If you’ve been the victim of sexual assault, you can access help and resources via www.rapecrisis.org.uk or calling the national telephone helpline on 0808 802 9999.

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