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.

I actually think it is a positive there has been a swift reaction from a number of sources and this would not happened 15 - 20 years ago. To some extent lessons are being learned and we are starting to see a seriousness applied to these sort of crimes that may not have been there previously. Although the law has always been clear the culture about the reporting and prosecution of such crimes has been such that women do not feel it is worth the emotional distress and possibly reputational damage of going through a prosecution.

I listened to his podcast interview DOAC with Steven Bartlett. His answers sounded scripted, manic rants, as though he imagined that he was enlightening the masses. Quite alarming!

Also think what the defence team would do to then 16 year old in terms of questioning. As she was in an initially consensual relationship the defence would want to go through all her sexual experience with Brand looking for signs she had implicitly accepted 'rough sex' and this was a 'normal' part of their relationship. I would think that this would be a horrendous experience. The television interview allowed the woman to describe an assault separately from the rest of the relationship. Assault is assault no matter the relationship or previous behaviour.

We do not need to know the events that lead immediately to the assault as it is irrelevant. A jury though would possibly have this described in detail making the prosecution's case harder.

Exactly! Russel Brand isn’t the devil. He’s just a normal bloke who is at least being honest.

No wonder he carried on, he was validated and promoted for his actions.

Obnoxious as he is, I'm uneasy with this cut-and-dried, of course he's guilty attitude before any police charges have been made and before any evidence has been heard in court.
YouTube have de-monetised his channel but they will still get getting and keeping the adverts income. So that's lip service. I can't stand the guy, never could, but trial by media on gossip isn't on.

Ding ding ding!!!!!

your comment is spot on!!!

Let’s see if he does sue them…..

bet you he doesn’t.

She is not a child of she was 16, and over the age of consent.

FFS. She could have been my age (60 +) and if she didn't consent at the specific time it's rape.

Mmmmm why are you posting this? A journalist looking for a story perhaps? Careful folks x

I don't get what it is that people need to see here.. You've got multiple women with very similar stories. Taxi drivers begging a school girl not to go into his house. You have a woman who went to a rape unit and gave a statement.. There are text message from his phone that same day apologising for taking things to far. I could go on.. What is it you all want as proof.. video evidence of a school girl being sexually assaulted?!?
Because thats pretty much what women need to stand any chance at all of a conviction. We 100% should be able to offer a service that would mean women felt safe walking into a police station.. For obvious reasons women don't feel that service exists.. so until then this is what they are left with. This poor innocent men bullshit needs to stop, I within minutes could search online and find thousands of cases where women have been disbelieved and rapists have walked free.. 165'000 from last year alone in fact. Find me Five of innocent men being put in prison for a rape they didn't commit.

I don't care for the Savile comparisons but will say it was a similar climate sexually - the sexual liberation of the 60s titled things on their axis, it was funny to have blokes openly admitting their urges in a comic way rather than gormlessly being ashamed about it, and conducting a secret agenda of being interested in a woman. And in turn, I think many women found the change refreshing. Of course, this also created a climate for sexual predators to take it a bit further, and the 90s were the same with the internet making hard core porn available and legal for the very first time in this country.

In terms of other areas where 'everyone knows' - well, should the truth ever come out about how elderly care home residents are being murdered by the State, mostly being put on secret end-of-life care without the families being told, then deprived of fluid very similar to the Liverpool Care Pathway, nothing shows up on the medical notes, well, a good many know about this stuff but in general, if you know, you're either the perpetrator or the victim and so you're in that abusive relationship. This stuff goes on behind closed doors. Proof is hard and you can't take it to anyone really, I mean you can try but it's authorised at the highest level.

I'm pretty sure we had this conversation before but the answer is that same,

She was a child capable of having consensual sex.

But that does not seem to be what Brand did when he shoved his penis down her throat. That was rape potentially, or sexual assault.

Yes there are different offences for children under 13. But those aren't relevant.

Anyway, he's a scum bag. Like any 30 year old bloke who carries on with 16 year olds.

Yet another high profile person who questions the status quo being shut down by Big Brother. Not saying what he did is right or wrong - he himself owned up - why now when he is more powerful than before do they choose now to shut him down when he is serious in his attacks. Don't be led by the Press - they have proved themselves over the years to be led only by their sponsors / Government. Look at the bigger picture.

Holy fuck.. Nobody gives a shit about Russell Brands insane YouTube ramblings.. cats made covid.. trumps a nice guy.. the world is flat.. it's completely insane!!!
He is being accused of rape because he is a rapist!!!

I would need to see a criminal trial where Brand is given the opportunity to defend himself.
If there is enough evidence and enough cases, he would be convicted by a jury, until then I reserve judgement.
I thought the text message piece of evidence was strange. She said 'you took advantage', he apologized for being selfish, it wasn't cut and dried.
The stories were all quite different, there was only one that seemed to be very young, there was little consistency to the accusations.
One thing is clear, he acted in a vile misogynistic manner, he was predatory in his approach to women and sex, he skated very close to the line, if not crossing it entirely, especially with the 16 year old. However, he has slept with literally thousands of women, and so far only a handful have come forward, and we don't know their identity. There must be a lot of women who hate Russell brand from that time period.
I believe he has changed dramatically since then. He was a mess back then, addicted to everything, alcohol, drugs, sex, fame, running wild and unchallenged through the corridors of addiction. He was further emboldened by the 'powers at be' that facilitated him and encouraged him in order to make money.

I think the fact that someone fairly normal has married him, had kids with him, and stuck by him for such a long period of time, and none of these accusations are in any way recent, is very telling that he is a changed person.
Whilst he absolutely deserves to be punished for any crimes he committed in his past, he also absolutely deserves a fair trial.

I think it's important to separate the potentially criminal actions from the sea of promiscuity that they occurred in. The actions should be looked on separately as they are not simply just a feature of a lifestyle of multiple partners and misogny. They are crimes.

The fact that RB boasted about his wild lifestyle and multiple sexual encounters does not in any way excuse or mitigate criminal actions which caused huge emotional distress to the victims. Emotional sisters such that they were willing to talk openly to reporters many years in the future; it must have still hurt.

I think apart from the conspiracy theorists the defenders of Brand seem to be those who are confused about the difference between consensual and non consensual sex and those that think he is just misunderstood. I suppose there are those that feel as Brand has a family for some reason the allegations shouldn't be aired to protect them.

You have missed the point entirely.

I doubt any woman who has ever been raped or abused would willingly put herself through a criminal trial were the process is to so adversial. He's a rich popular star who like Saville put his pervsion out there.

Conspiracy theory is utter bollix.

@Ilinaya

I posted previously about reasons for women not maybe wishing to go through a judicial process and you have to admit gaining evidence to secure a conviction beyond reasonable doubt is quite a high bar. In a trial not guilty does not guarantee innocence.

The women possibly may have had a greater chance of justice in a civil trail but I believe there are costs associated with these.

I agree a fair trial would be beneficial but that shouldn't bar women from talking to the press especially with the weight of evidence.

There may even be a future trial depending on new complainants brining evidence to the police so a fair trial should not be discounted as a possibility. I doubt even a Not guilty finding would resurrect Brands career or reputation.

Remember also it is the CPSs decision whether to bring a case to trial.

RB is a knobhead. I don't like the guy and never have. I saw the docu, and yes it's bad. But we cannot be part of a society that has somebody executed before being given a fair trial. This is not a world I want to live in. At the moment society seems to run by social media and kangaroo courts. This world we are living in at this time is a crazy nonsensical topsy turvy nut job.... based on hearsay would you allow anyone you cared about to be tried in the court of public opinion

You are never going to win over conspiracy theorists and there is a plausible theory he built up a base of conspiracy believing supporters in recent years fully knowing the accusations would be an eventuality and he had a great made band of followed who would gullibly accept his defence of everything being down to the 'deep state'.

As if women haven’t stayed with men for the money before 🙄

Laura Gallacher is not independently wealthy and her husband is worth a reported £50 million. I don’t see her leaving him any time soon.

we cannot be part of a society that has somebody executed before being given a fair trial

Totally agree. Which is why it's a good thing nobody is proposing to summarily execute RB. Or even imprison him, unless he is convicted.

But we can judge him all we like.

I'm not sure what you mean. He is not being executed or put in prison and that won't happen without being found guilty in a court.

@sweetdreams33

where do you stand on investigative journalism and the ability of the press to throw light on amoral and criminal action in general? Investigative journalism has helped bring many criminals to justice and allowed real change in corrupt institutions for instance.

This was a piece of investigative journalism and those that are withdrawing support are using their own judgment whether to continue affiliation to Brand. Everyone who watched the documentary was free to reach their own conclusion. Brand of course has the absolute write to sue the documentary makers for libel. Why wouldn't he?