Joint investigation by C4 Dispatches and The Times about allegations made by women who have worked with Russell Brand

[IwantToRetire]

NB - I know trigger warnings have a bad name, but in this instance should add that some may find descriptions in the report of sexual violence personnally disturbing.

Alice has decided to speak out because she now believes that she was too young to be able to consent to a relationship with an adult man, and that the law should be changed to protect those under 18. “My mum still feels like she failed me in some way in allowing this to happen, but she had no recourse at all,” she says. “It shouldn’t be legal for a 16-year-old to have a relationship with a man in their thirties. There should be something in place to protect children.”

She also wants the entertainment industry to change. For many years, Brand has been applauded for his jokes describing how he has manipulated women for sex.

“I think he was very skilful in the start of making his identity be, ‘I’m the womaniser. I’m a sex addict. I’m inappropriate but it’s all just a joke, it’s funny’,” Alice claims, “It’s a smokescreen for a lot more of his dark behaviour.”

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/russell-brand-rape-sexual-assault-abuse-allegations-investigation-v5hxdlmb6 (*)

https://www.channel4.com/programmes/russell-brand-in-plain-sight-dispatches

The tv channels and theatres still behave as those male entertainers are entitled to have every one of their whims catered to, including expecting womrn to be sexually available. For them, Me Too and all the other exposes have not stopped them acting like pimps.

(*) The Times article has been archived at https://archive.ph - just paste the Times web link into the box provided.

@IwantToRetire
'But also such a horrible example of how porn warps men's view of women, and unfortunately means some women accept that them being pornified and abuser is "normal".'

Absolutely this!

I remember reading the Tatchell article at the time. It's so revealing - I suspect Tatchell didn't realise how revealing. It drips with misogyny. It effectively says that Baillie was a slut who was asking for it.

I didnt even read this! Im off to read about tatchell article xx

I am fuming at that article!!!
'It is not as if Baille is some innocent convent girl. She admits she slept with Brand and she works as a "burlesque dancer" in a group called Satanic Sluts. Yet she claims Brand's jokes have damaged her public image and hurt her feelings. Oh please!'
WTAF!! victim blaming. I cant even atm!!

That Brand/Ross episode was fifteen years ago. FIFTEEN! I feel old.

I must admit, I was in the middle of my proto mens rights phase, really dismissive of women's complaints against misogyny. I would roll my eyes at anything I heard that attacked my side.

It was an easy position to take, and felt oh so satisfying.

I'm thinking part of my reaction to the MRA of TRA is realisation of, and thus some shame, at being complicit in that easy misogyny.

Whether it's possible for men to do a total 180 on ingrained anti-women attitudes, I don't know. But my deep antagonism to what I'm seeing today is somewhat borne out of that period.

Am I an exception? That's an interesting Q. I'd say, probably. I've already talked to three men who say the Brand accusations are a witch-hunt against him.

@RealityFan my stepfather, male neighbour and his friend say its a witch hunt. i am that exhausted with these men, im constantly trying to explain to these men, their eyes just glaze over..they don't want my view, ir a woman's view, which is misogynistic in its own right! Am i surrounded by misogynistic dckheads?
Anyway, i have never liked RB..up his own ass, not funny, juvenile humour, i hate the words bookie wookie...what a complete Twat. That's before all this came out, which sadly doesnt surprise me.

Yes, but I'm also wary of stuff like Kevin Spacey. Noone said give him the benefit, the world via # MeToo and # NeverAgain closed ranks against him. And look how that ended up...

@RealityFan i haven't the energy to do this and its triggering. I have to decline a follow up comment.

Understood.

Fwiw, the Brand stuff is way closer to Savile, than anything else I can think of. Spacey happened thru the courts in the time honoured way.

But with Brand, his proclivities were on full display, and fully advertised for all to see. Hiding in plain sight, indeed.

Savile? Everyone around him knew what was going on, yet nothing was allowed to impede him.

With Brand, the whole media circus geared up to provide him fertile pickings. I remember that whole period of C4 barrier breaking and Big Brother wall to wall saturation media overload. I always hated (un)reality TV and it's dumbing down of everything.

But Brand could do no wrong, his Jesus/Charles Manson gruesome hybrid guru, sex addict knock off persona just bamboozled so many, I just had to switch over or switch off. Hated him, Big Brother and
C4 in so many ways.

Indeed before TRA invaded my everyday thoughts seven years ago, the previous daily mental chaos I endured was the Big Brother/Russell Brand coarsening and dumbing down of the media.

Of course, moan about it and you just weren't hip, he was the apex of our post modern drive to crashing barriers and burying prejudices.

First sign that all was not right in this new post modern euphoria? Jade Goody and her trial by media. Then, Caroline Flack. Now, Brand.

https://unherd.com/2023/09/the-noughties-enabled-russell-brand/?tl_inbound=1&tl_groups[0]=18743&tl_period_type=3

Fwiw, the Brand stuff is way closer to Savile, than anything else I can think of

I agree. Which is why it's blown up. Would be surprised if police said to do this.

Wow that Tatchell article.

'This storm in a teacup...'

'cracked a blue gag at the expense of his grand-daughter, Georgina Baillie. That's all.' (on national radio).

What about the sometimes foul-mouthed rants by Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay? (yeah, right, so similar 🤦‍♀️).

'was perhaps a breach of her privacy' (you don't say).

'Yet she claims Brand's jokes have damaged her public image and hurt her feelings. Oh please!' (really want to throw something at monitor right now, [cat for your own safety, please move away] he just really doesn't like women, does he!)

Isn't it remarkable that even women who would claim they are feminists always manage to find an excuse for men.

Now we have some daft comment about the Noughties - what a load of crap.

As all to often happens, more often after some men's death, you then hear reports about what a complete shit he was and an abuser of women. I remember after some leftie barrister died all sorts of stories came out.

So it doesn't matter what era it was or is, this is about the men themselves, and the patriarchal power structure that enables it.

I think the only difference about Brand was that he flaunted it in people's faces and the majority applauded him, which even if he wasn't actually a sexual predator sums up exactly how women have always been and are still seen as existing for men.

The case for raising the UK age of consent explained after Russell Brand accuser calls for change to law

Legal experts have questioned whether changing the age of consent so that so-called ‘Romeo and Juliet’ laws apply would have any effect on instances of grooming

https://inews.co.uk/news/uk-age-of-consent-case-raising-explained-russell-brand-alleged-victims-tougher-laws-2629504

Behind a paywall but you can read the article by going to https://archive.ph and pasting in the inews link above, into the box provided.

Nice of an MP to help fuel the conspiracy theories by writing to Rumble.