Actor and comedian Russell Brand has been accused of rape, sexual assaults and emotional abuse during a seven-year period.
Four women have alleged sexual assaults between 2006 and 2013, when he was at the height of his fame, working for BBC Radio 2 and Channel 4 as well as starring in Hollywood films.
He also faces allegations of controlling, abusive and predatory behaviour, following a joint investigation by The Sunday Times, The Times and Channel 4 Dispatches.
Brand vehemently denies the allegations and in a video posted online on Friday, stated all of his relationships have been consensual, before accusing the media of a “co-ordinated attack”.
The 48-year-old said he had received letters from a “mainstream media TV company” and a newspaper which he said included a “litany of extremely egregious and aggressive attacks”.
“Amidst this litany of astonishing, rather baroque attacks are some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute,” 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.”
He 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.
“To see that transparency metastasised into something criminal, that I absolutely deny, makes me question is there another agenda at play.”
In the wake of the #MeToo movement, the actor and comedian previously said he had no regrets about his previous sexual behaviour, claiming to have had intimate relationships with hundreds of women in the past.
In 2008, Brand made headlines for his BBC Radio 2 prank, now known as Sachsgate, when he left a “lewd” voicemail for Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs – who died in 2016 – about his granddaughter.
Brand was married to US pop star Katy Perry from 2010 to 2012 but is now married to Laura Gallacher, the sister of presenter Kirsty, and the pair have two children, Mabel and Peggy.
On Saturday, Kirsty reposted Brand’s video on her Instagram story, along with a big red love heart.
In recent years, Brand has seemingly become a prominent conspiracy theorist, including his appearance on Newsnight with Evan Davis when he said he was open minded about whether the 9/11 terror attacks had been faked by the American government.
With almost seven million followers on YouTube, Brand has used the social media outlet to cover topical news stories, including alleged misinformation surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic and being an outspoken sceptic of the vaccine.
Some of the most popular videos on Brand’s channel include suggesting a global Covid-19 cover-up and the Great Reset conspiracy theory which claims a global elite is using the pandemic to enforce radical social change.
His new live comedy show, Russell Brand Bipolarisation, has four dates left in September, including at Wembley Park Theatre on Saturday.
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