Dispatches . Russel brand .

[fabmaccawhackythumbsaloft]

I actually like Russel brand . And I don't think he's ever hidden what he used to be in his heyday. He's always been very open about his drug use, and promiscuity.

I read his first book . I watch his videos on fb , and while I don't always agree with him, he seems to have totally overhauled his lifestyle, attitudes, is into yoga, self care, seems to be a decent husband and father .

Is this newsworthy ? Young famous comedian in heyday slept with lots and lots of women , consensually he says ?

Hes never hidden it.

On drug misuse I alWays had time for his views that it should be dealt with as a medical issue not a criminal one

What's the news story ?
I always feel like there is much glee and salivating before the media try and knock someone down.
I don't think this is a huw edwards where people would be shocked at him trying to pick up young women behind his wife's back

It seems that brand has settled down , lives a fairly mundane lifestyle and is happy with his choices .

Or am I completely missing something?

This is not excusing Russell's alleged behaviour in the slightest.

But then it's not really relevant to the thread? It just seems like you're condoning his behaviour or giving him mitigating circumstances?

He (allegedly) raped five women. This includes choking a 16 year old with his penis whilst she tried to tell him no.

Not everyone is as jaded as you.

Cannot comprehend how anybody ever thought Brand was funny. Everything he said was supporting the degradation of women and was about his sexual gratification - ugh. As for his urinating in public and exposing himself at work --enough to confirm he was sick. Some trash newspapers sold copy based on his exploits - most normal people would just see a seriously perverted egotistical specimen of humanity. Says it all the Tates are supporting him!

I feel the same. It's horrible isn't it, reminds me why I never did tell anyone.

How much money do people think those women were paid for this show? My guess is that if anything it was a ridiculously low amount and given that some of them could be identified despite being anonymous they are risking a lot. Why do people always go on about money? They're not selling their stories, they're coming forward. There's a BIG difference.

Also, has anyone here who's been sexually assaulted by someone they knew, even if it was only for a short time, date rape, for example, gone to the police and reported their assault/rape? My guess is that the number is very low. We don't go because we know what will happen if we do.

The allegations talked about in the programme date up to and including 2014.

It was not the late 1990s or early 2020s.

In 2014 we were three years past Saville.

Weinstein broke in 2017.

AND YET...

STILL noone felt able to talk about Brand for another SIX YEARS after MeToo started.

Thats the telling bit. As are a huge number of the comments on this thread which are part of the problem and the culture which enables the silence and the non-reporting.

This thread has pp triggered and struggling, it would help ALOT if we considered that before posting. It’s a very difficult situation.

Yes!!!!

Maybe this documentary will empower women to go to the police if they're assaulted

Watched . Am processing

But I think very very unfair to berate his wife of now. People do change . I've had shite shite terrible abusive relationships but I don't doubt at a different time with a different person they could become a different dynamic.

His wife shouldn't be on trial here by media or anything else. Leave her out of his shitty behaviour.

Well I couldn’t care less about his wife, my only concern is for the victims.
Maybe she is one too, we will probably never know.

Exactly. These people are happy enough to take the fame and glory and wealth, and use the media when it suits. But don't like the attention when it's not 'favourable.'

the actual fuck. That's not how consent works.

Nice show of female solidarity there then .

Brand is probably a rapist. But the bigger problem is that we live in a society where we have allowed that behaviour to flourish for too long.

Brand isn’t a devil or monster. He’s just egotistical, selfish and ignorant of consent and that’s not ok at all. He’s also an idiot! But how many men in our societies have been ignorant of consent and hurt a woman? We say “Me Too” because most women have been assaulted. Well if most women have, most men have been doing the assaulting! It must be rare to find a woman who doesn’t remember being assaulted, so it must be rare to find a man who’s never done it. just because they don’t speak about it, doesn’t mean they’ve never assaulted a woman.

Even our Dh’s… before we met them?? Even something as low level as sleeping with a woman who was too drunk to consent. Rape, legally.
If every single man’s life was investigated; most of them would get cancelled or worse. surely??

Instead of us v them, men v women and vice versa, we need to come together to fix the society, allowing education and safety for us all. Violence against women needs to stop, but we do that by banding together, not being decisive. The media is fuelled by pitting sexes against each other, right wing v the left, you v me. We need to see through it and find a way forward.

Goodness, you are naive. Even I knew age 17 that it would be a waste of time reporting a sexual assault against me to the police.

You ‘presume’ way too much.

Yes I agree . And I don’t think that saying trial by media is wrong , is actually defending the accused.

The fact is if we accept this method what’s to stop local news making a rape accusation of someone’s son publicly and your whole community knowing about it , true or not .

If Dispatches have done a programme on this it will have been a very long time in the making, the researchers and Channel 4 legal team will have gone over everything with a fine tooth comb.

Why on earth would anyone want to bring him down? He has no influence over anything important, there is literally nothing he could say or do that anyone in 'power' would give a shit about.

If 5 women have independently come forward and have not received any financial gain, what would their motive be?

Yep, the rape apologists and 'why should we believe these women' posters on here make me sick to the pit of my stomach. I would hide the thread now, but more and more keep popping up. Should be able to block words on here like you can on Twitter.

To everyone wondering why on earth rapists aren't prosecuted it just depends on the class/power of the victim. Women are more listened to these days because more of them own property and have wealth. Only these these grant you access to the justice system unfortunately. If you're an everyday person you won't find much protection in the legal system, even less so if you're impoverished. Similarly, if you're poor enough to live in a huge and unsafe block of flats, you can literally burn alive and no one will care.

I can’t see anyone berating her.

I don't agree this should be via media but clearly there is more than enough evidence here. If there is no one talking about it, there should be. Women still need to be warned if he's rebranded as some health guru to host wellness retreats with women.

It seems like he was privately cancelled by "mainstream media" and has rebranded himself as a "truth seeker and teller" to prepare for this and ensure he always has others on his side. He spouts some long words to seem eloquent and puts out some reasonable, well balanced content every so often so people seem to think he's generally OK and are sucked in, it comes across the same as how groomers and cult leaders tend to work. I can think of another very problematic person who worked in this way to gain online followers too.