Russell Brand - everyone knew

[Mooshamoo]

I was watching the comedian Katherine Ryan say to Louis theroux that a British comedian is a sexual perpetrator. It is now believed that she was talking about Russell brand. She said on the video "when it eventually comes out about these type of people, Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, this unmentionable British personality, it turns out that everyone knew. Everyone knew. ".

I was wondering did anyone on here on mumsnet know anything about Russell brand? A lot of us lived in London when her was living there. And many women on here would have been a similar age to Russell brand . I lived in London for a year and I saw Russell brand out on a night out once. That was the extent of it. I was wondering did anyone on here have any experience with him, or know about a friend/acquaintance that had any experiences with him.

His treatment if Georgina Baillie tells us everything we need to know about him.

It was vile and very public.

If this is how he behaved in consensual encounters, no one should be surprised.

He never exactly hid what he was.

They’d also been together for 3 years before the married. Not sure where the bizarre ‘I wonder if he trapped her’ comment came from.

I wouldn't be surprised if Brand was on peado island once or the Lolita express.

He could have met Epstein through his relationship with Jemima Khan (whose ex husband Imran was going around with Ghislaine Maxwell).

Haven’t rtft, it’s too long. But years ago a group of friends/colleagues and I were out for drinks and someone asked had anyone slept with a celebrity. Someone said their friend had sex with RB and another person quipped “does anyone not have a friend who had sex with RB”. That sums it up.

I detest the man, absolutely detest him, always have. I watched the documentary. The adult woman who said “in hindsight he groomed me” ffs. You cannot “groom” an adult unless they lack capacity in some way. Women upset he never called them after 1 night stands. What did you expect? These “claims” undermine the true victims. The 16 year old where he forced his penis down her throat, the woman who was raped. These are crimes. Being a manipulative sleaze bag isn’t. As much as we might wish it was.

yes I’m sure he’ll be outcast but will he be convicted of anything? Doubtful at this stage. But ultimately any fan who had consensual sex with him is not a victim. It was so obvious all along he was a sleaze. Regret is not rape. Let’s not muddy the waters here. Forced sex is rape and I for one would love to see him punished for that. But a lot of these accusations are just women who regret sleeping with him. The focus should be on the actual crimes he committed.

My bad, I was going by this article.

”Bernard had reportedly not been happy with Brand dating his daughter while she was 18 years old. The Daily Mail reported that they split in 2007 at the behest of Bernard, who was ‘concerned about the age gap’. “He begged her to end it,” a friend told the newspaper.”

Think I misread the article.

I reckon we are probably all in spitting distance, at any one time, of someone who’s shagged RB

So it looks like they date in 2007 then got together again 10 years later.

I wonder, with 2 kids and a 3rd on the way, what advice her dad will be giving her now

One of the interesting things about Brand in terms of being able to publish is the following:

One of the key points in being able to build a case based on a Reynolds Defence is about reputational damage if your allegations later prove to be false.

And there are a few points about Brand which make him interesting, in terms of that.

Firstly, the amount of stuff Brand himself has said. And the nature of it. A self confessed sex addict who tells jokes about rape and is seen on tv in inappropriate/sexualised situations which 'break boundaries', effectively is an easier target (or low hanging fruit), because you'd argue that there's going to be less reputational damage done to him. This sense of 'noone being surprised' or 'everyone knew' (whether thats true of not) matters.

Secondly there is the status of Brand's career. He hasn't really worked on British TV since 2017's #metoo (ooo theres a thing). The notable exception being Roast Battle with Ryan... So again, less far to fall.

Thats very different to someone still at the height of their status or a squeaky clean image.

So Brand effectively unwittingly put himself into a position where its much more difficult to defend his reputation or dispute there isn't a wider public interest argument in naming him. His open behaviour on screens is relevant to this. Stuff that is dreadful to now hear play back and for C4/BBC be able to condone as justifiable.

I remember a story where Brand refused to work at all unless the production manager showed him her tits. I think Billy Connolly got it stopped. Now that was a public story before all this.

The sense of entitlement to do that, on set, with everyone waiting, means that a lot of people knew how vile he was. And why he stopped being hired.

She was 18 when she got pregnant by him in 2016, then they married in 2017. Apparently her dad begged her to break it off because of the age gap

No, this isn’t true but you might be getting confused with the fact that she did have a fling with him when she was 18. She then had a very long term relationship with someone else and reconnected with RB after that. Well, bizarrely, on the very day her boyfriend of 8 years moved out… which is quite strange really.

@RedToothBrush Very interesting! So it would be more difficult to justify investigating a well respected and influential person with a pristine reputation? From a journalist's point of view, I mean.

Yes, sorry, I misread the article.

Why is his wife having another baby with this misogynistic, sexist, self-absorbed arsehole??!!

He's gaining loads of publicity on the back of this and, oh, he just happens to have a tour at the moment.

His tour has been cancelled hasn't it?

The answer is to make young people much much much stronger and more aware of predatory people who may exploit them. It's a valuable lesson at any age anyway.

While it may be a valuable lesson, from a developmental point of view young people are still likely to be drawn in and seduced by older, attractive men who have been playing that game for years. Spotting the predatory behaviour underlying the charm and charisma takes time and experience, many women don’t realise they’ve been abused and exploited until well into adulthood - when they’re able to see the nature of the behaviour for what it is.

No matter how well educated, a 16 year old girl is never going to be a match for a 30 year old man with fame on his side who is determined to get her into bed.

Yes, it’s been cancelled. No one wants this kind of publicity. He’s running scared.

Does anyone find it strange that he would marry into a wealthy family? I don't. It was useful probably

It doesn't surprise me that people 'knew' but did nothing. This story is played out across the land as anyone who has been raped by a 'great guy' knows full well - this is not just the TV industry, it is society.

They are charming, quick witted, know how to lie effectively, make 'jokes' that are half truths that work to disarm you. Any normal functioning moral person has no chance in being absolutely confident in making or backing up an accusation. RB is almost identikit my exh and I guarantee you he is not in TV or some powerful media exec yet he is still untouchable. I have literally told people who know him exactly what he did, and they sort of believe it, but they still can't quite square it with the ball of energy and enthusiasm and 'humour' that he presents, along with the 'half truth' jokes about being an awful person. I can hardly bear to watch RB on these clips as it is so like my exh, and yet he has never had consequences and never will.

My generous explanation for why people do not actually commit to backing up their gut feelings and actually making complaints in these circumstances is that as humans, we have a bias to believe people, we can't face that people are lying to us, we just prefer to believe that people tell the truth. That, alongside the fact that good people find it very difficult to understand there are genuinely bad people out there who harm people deliberately and without remorse; so many people find it hard to make the leap in their minds that people can be bad, they have been taught to think of the best in people, give them the benefit of the doubt, that these men, not just RB, continue to get off scott free.

Ironically, I think RB was actually quite good in recent years in sniffing out bad people. I always trust psychos to sniff out bad people - for the reasons given above, good people are really bad at sniffing out bad people.

The current ‘supply’ the mother of his children is a victim too. She will be so gaslighted she won’t be able to see the wood for the trees. You can only hope she has a very strong family network that will allow her to get distance from the situation, perspective, and some very good counselling, for the sake of her, and her children. It is pretty impressive how much he has built a following to distract from the truth. He is all about the ‘truth’ though 🤔🤥

Yes, definitely. I know some people who slept with him. Girls would like up after his gigs and he would choose amongst them. Grim man.

Yes, for someone writing about ‘revolution’, it’s funny he has sequestered himself in a small town of 12k people in Oxfordshire and married into a golfing family.

If you watch some of his stand up he says something along the lines of 'if you want a shag line up after the show'... it was totally true

Secondly there is the status of Brand's career. He hasn't really worked on British TV since 2017's #metoo (ooo theres a thing). The notable exception being Roast Battle with Ryan... So again, less far to fall.

(Thats very different to someone still at the height of their status or a squeaky clean image*.

So Brand effectively unwittingly put himself into a position where its much more difficult to defend his reputation or dispute there isn't a wider public interest argument in naming him. His open behaviour on screens is relevant to this. Stuff that is dreadful to now hear play back and for C4/BBC be able to condone as justifiable.

I listened to some of the BBC Woman's Hour programme and a woman/victim was interviewed and her thoughts on this were that Brand deliberately stepped away from MSM, grew a crowd of easily influenced fellow conspiracy theorists and that makes it much easier for him to claim that MSM are out to get him.
She said this was part of Brand's plan as he knew it would eventually catch up with him.
If that is true and as she knows him and I don't, she formed a personal opinion based on actual facts, that makes him even more sinister.

Her sister Kirsty Gallacher liked RB’s video statement on Instagram with a big heart and then she deleted it.

I hope it’s because she realised his true nature.

Yes well if you just take everything he says and reverse it which is one way to play a narc and indeed the basis of his comedy, ie the joke is not a joke then you see his life much more clearly.