More women make sexual assault allegations against Russell Brand
More women have accused comedian and actor Russell Brand of sexual misconduct following the release of a recent Channel 4 documentary regarding his alleged behaviour.
Russell Brand: In Plain Sight aired on September 16th after the broadcaster worked on the investigation over a number of years with The Times and The Sunday Times. Four women accused Brand of rape and sexual assault during a period between 2007 and 2013 in London and Los Angeles. One of the alleged victims was also only 16 years old at the time and claimed Brand sent a car to pick her up from school.
The Times has now revealed they have been contacted by additional women since their report was published. The publication has yet to investigate the claims but promises they will be “rigorously checked”.
The Metropolitan Police have also commented on the alleged stories relating to Brand and revealed they have begun to make enquiries. “We are aware of media reporting of a series of allegations of sexual assault,” a spokesperson told Sky News. “At this time, we have not received any reports in relation to this. If anyone believes they have been the victim of a sexual assault, no matter how long ago it happened, we would encourage them to contact police”.
They continued: “We spoke with The Sunday Times on Saturday 16 September. We will be making further approaches to The Sunday Times and Channel 4 to ensure that any victims of crime who they have spoken with are aware of how they may report any criminal allegations to police.”
Since their initial statement, a woman has come forward to the Metropolitan Police with an official sexual assault complaint relating to Brand. The force revealed: “On Sunday, the Met received a report of a sexual assault which was alleged to have taken place in Soho in central London in 2003. Officers are in contact with the woman.”
BBC and Channel 4 have also started investigating Brand’s behaviour while he worked for the respective broadcasters. Additionally, the literacy agent Tavistock Wood has stopped working with the comic.
Brand, who performed his new stand-up show ‘Bipolarisation’ to fans at Wembley Park Theatre in London on the same night as the documentary was aired, denies all the accusations and claims his sexual encounters have always been “consensual”.
In a video statement, he 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.”
The comic continued: “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.”
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