Russell Brand Charged With Rape and Sexual Assault, Met Police Confirms

Disgraced comedian and actor Russell Brand has been formally charged with rape and sexual assault. The U.K.’s Crown Prosecution Service said on Friday that it has authorized London’s Metropolitan Police to charge a man, identified as 49-year-old Brand, following an investigation by detectives. Brand has been charged with one count of rape, one count of indecent assault, one count of oral rape and two counts of sexual assault, the Met said. He will appear in court on Friday, May 2. Related Stories Brand responded to the charges in a video shared on his social media stating, “I’ve never engaged in non-consensual activity. I pray that you can see that by looking in my eyes.” At the top of the video, Brand said, “We’re very fortunate in a way to live in a time when there’s so little trust in the British government. We’re very fortunate, I suppose, that this is happening at a time where we know that the law has become a kind of weapon to be used against people, institutions and sometimes entire nations that will not accept levels of corruption.” He then raised the questions, “How do you feel about your legal system right now? How do you feel about some of the high profile cases that are not being pursued or prosecuted?” Brand then went on to say that prior to being married and having children, “I was a fool before I lived in the light of the Lord. I was a drug addict, a sex addict, and an imbecile. But what I never was was a rapist.” Brand ended his video by saying he’s “incredibly grateful” to fight these charges in court. The crimes he has been charged with relate to a 1999 rape in the Bournemouth area of the U.K.; a 2001 indecent assault of a woman in Westminster, London; the 2004 oral rape and sexual assault of a woman in Westminster, London; and between 2004 and 2005, the sexual assault of a woman in Westminster, London, the force said. “The women who have made reports continue to receive support from specially trained officers,” said the Met Police’s detective superintendent Andy Furphy, leading the investigation. “The investigation remains open and detectives ask anyone who has been affected by this case, or anyone who has any information, to come forward and speak with police.” Detectives began investigating in September 2023 after receiving a number of allegations, which followed reporting by Channel 4’s Dispatches and The Sunday Times. The program aired extensive allegations against Brand. One of the women told Dispatches that Brand entered a relationship with her when he was 31 and she was 16. Their relationship lasted three months, she had said, and Brand had been “emotionally abusive and controlling.” Another claimed that Brand raped her in 2012 in his L.A. home, according to the Sunday Times. The Briton denied all claims made against him, which date between 2006 and 2013, when Brand was at the height of his fame working on Big Brother’s Big Mouth, Kings of Comedy and Big Brother’s Celebrity Hijack. A Banijay U.K.-commissioned investigation later found informal complaints concerning Brand were made over 20 years ago on set. Another review into Brand’s behavior at the BBC, in particular between 2006 and 2008 when he worked for 6 Music and Radio 2, found that fellow employees believed he “would always get his way, and therefore stayed silent.” The corporation apologized to its staff after the report revealed an allegation, among others, that Brand exposed himself to a woman in the bathroom of L.A.’s BBC bureau. The ex-husband of singer Katy Perry no longer lives in the U.K. He was recently baptized and now devotes much of his platform to his newfound Christian faith. Brand maintains all of his relationships were consensual. April 4, 9:41 p.m. Updated with Brand’s statement.

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