Russell Brand accused of rape, sexual assaults and abuse: The Times/Sunday Times story

[BrontëParsonage]

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/d4d93e74-5478-11ee-bc18-cbdd58145dc6?shareToken=b3cd34ae6268daad4741e6c092ceac97

It's quite key that one woman has evidence at a rape centre in the US isn't it.

I saw these two tweets and felt they were pertinent

Knew what?

I'm surprised more people haven't mentioned Bob Geldof calling Brand a cunt on the documentary. I thought he must know something.
Was just googling and unearthed this from 2011
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/media/2006/jun/18/broadcasting.arts

I'm fascinated by tabloid culture,' he tells me later. 'Out of sheer narcissism it's interesting to see yourself abstracted from yourself.'....Would he have preferred to be gay? 'It would have been convenient to be gay,' says Brand. 'Just because of the grooming, the narcissism, stuff like that. But I have this kind of roaring heterosexuality

When someone tells you who they are, listen

I agree, that was the most chilling. It seemed that the black mist just came over by RB and he didn’t know what he was going (not an excuse). And also the work colleague apologised later for her not coming to her help. Shows how powerful RB was.

How powerful and how much blind eyes were turned. Across the board

Many just didn't know what to do with disclosures and witnessed abuse back then,

Those who talked about it had it cut in the edit and were threatened with litigation.
https://deadline.com/2023/09/russell-brand-roast-battle-uk-katherine-ryan-1235549112/

That's a really important article.

Also thought this was interesting

https://inews.co.uk/news/russell-brand-youtube-channel-conspiracy-theories-followers-left-tv-2624155

On Mr Brand’s online popularity, Felix Simon, a communication researcher at Oxford University’s Internet Institute, told Prospectt*: “The most important thing to understand about people like Russell Brand, and online influencers in general, is that they are able to build something we call a ‘parasocial interaction’ with audiences.

“Basically, they suggest to people that they are close to them and that their audiences and their fans are somehow their friends, who get to see them as they really are.”
Mr Brand, as someone who was already very famous before leaning into online content creation, already had a sizeable following of people who felt this parasocial connection to him, making it easier for his channels to become popular and for his views to spread.

From this:

Just after #MeToo:

Brand was booked as a judge on Comedy Central’s Roast Battle in 2018, but only lasted a single season on the series after he himself was roasted on-camera over allegations he had sexually assaulted women. He strongly denies criminal wrongdoing.

Three sources close to the Fulwell 73 production said Roast Battle judge Katherine Ryan turned the heat on Brand a number of times during filming. Her allegations did not make the final edit.

The confrontations reveal how speculation about Brand was circulating in the comedy and TV worlds, but he continued to be employed on primetime series. The show appears to be something of a turning point, however, given Brand virtually vanished from UK television screens after 2018, except for an appearance on The Great Celebrity Bake Off.

(Where he made a genital cake. His wife's I think?)

deadline.com/2023/09/russell-brand-roast-battle-uk-katherine-ryan-1235549112/

There's a lot more in that article which illustrates his reactions

100% this. They use it as a method to find and target vulnerable people who are looking for comfort/answers, and who will be afraid of straying from the rules they set down, afraid of being cast out.

Religions and spiritual cults of all stripes are an abuser's dream.

Wow, good for Katherine Ryan - that was brave. She basically ran him off television. Must be so frustrating watching all your colleagues supporting or turning a blind eye to a predator.

I wonder if the triggernometry boys have said anything. They've talked about predators in the comedy scene in general before.

Agree that article shows Ryan in a very positive light. It does seem like she put an end to his mainstream career by refusing to stay silent about his behaviour. And then got censored anyway

I'd like to see the clips they censored. Would be interesting to see RB's reaction. I imagine he was beyond furious.

Wow, good for Katherine Ryan - that was brave. She basically ran him off television.

She did didn't she. Bloody hell.

He got one last genital cake in before he went.

This isn't just about him; this is about sexual abuse being allowed to happen on a grand scale.

It's coming down to safeguarding (again) and the complete lack of it.

I wonder if they will be kept for police evidence?

It’s no coincidence that people are feeling able to talk about this now, as his star is waning I think

there will be men now who are in the ascendancy behaving like this, and the women they’re assaulting will be too scared of retribution to speak, and anyone they could talk to will be too scared to listen

which is crazy when you think about what these men actually do for a job. They’re entertainers. How does it bring them such power over others?

Would think that's unlikely - unless he actually admits to anything on camera.

Katherine Ryan has blown me away, actually, thinking about this. She was able to confront him openly under the guise of a comedy roast. It was exposing his predatory nature publically but without allowing him the opportunity to sue (because it's all just a 'roast' Russell! Just joking!) and in doing so she completely crushed whatever mainstream career he would have had.

Impressed, Katherine! Good work.

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/video/2014/dec/02/russell-brand-trews-rasputin-mode-video?s=09

Me too. Its always interesting to see the mask slip.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-66849965

Good Marina Hyde piece

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/sep/19/brave-victims-russell-brand-misogyny-deserve-full-support

On that Marina Hyde piece...

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/marina-hydes-russell-brand/