UK Police Open Investigation After Russell Brand Rape Allegation

On Monday 25 September, the London Metropolitan Police force announced that they have opened a sexual assault investigation after four women accused Russell Brand of a series of sexual assault incidents.

At the beginning of this month, Channel 4 Dispatches revealed that the TV channel, together with the Sunday Times newspaper, had produced a documentary that investigates the actor's treatment of women.

The sexual offences that the comedian has been accused of allegedly occurred between 2006 and 2013.

In addition to claims of sexual assault, Brand has also been accused of emotional abuse and rape.

Several news reports on the case have triggered a sex crime police investigation into the actor who strongly denied the allegations. Brand said: "Amidst this litany of astonishing rather baroque attacks are some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute."

Although the Metropolitan Police did not identify Brand formerly, the report referred to recent articles and a documentary where the allegations were made.

The police report also noted that the detectives are looking into claims of "non-recent" sexual offences in London and across the globe.

The report further stated: "We have also received a number of allegations of sexual offences committed elsewhere in the country and will investigate these."

Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy of the Met's Specialist Crime Command, who is leading the investigation into Brand's treatment of women, told the public: "We continue to encourage anyone who believes they may have been a victim of a sexual offence, no matter how long ago it was, to contact us."

Due to all of the allegations being "non-recent", Furphy urged: "We understand it can feel like a difficult step to take and I want to reassure [the public] that we have a team of specialist officers available to advise and support."

In the statement that Brand shared on YouTube and X, formerly known as Twitter, he also recognised that in the years that the alleged incidents took place, he "was very, very promiscuous".

So far, the YouTube video, which was posted on 16 September and sees Brand blaming the media for trying to silence his voice, has received more than two million views.

Soon after the video received much traction on YouTube, the company announced that it would stop Brand from making money from the streaming platform due to the "serious allegations" against him.

The talent and management agency that represented the comedian, Tavistock Wood Management, revealed that they were "horribly misled" by Brand and have since ultimately dropped him as a client.

Although Brand remains innocent until proven guilty, the BBC also pulled some of the actor's shows from its online streaming platform BBC iPlayer.

Despite Brand being heavily on the wrong side of 'cancel culture', the comedian has continued to post on the video site Rumble – where his channel has 1.6 million followers.

Rumble is populated with conservative and far-right groups that have been criticised for hosting individuals who share misinformation.

Rumble has continued to allow Brand to profit from his videos on the website. In response, several companies including Burger King, Asos, the Barbican and HelloFresh have removed their advertisements from the platform.

Victoria Prentis, the Attorney General, warned the media for reporting on the allegations, noting that "publishing this material could amount to contempt of court".

The Times Senior Writer Sean O'Neill responded to the comment in an opinion column with: "Anyone with even the sketchiest knowledge of how the media works surely knows that every single word of reporting on Brand has been rigorously scrutinised before publication."

O'Neill added: "The attorney general's censorious warning has no basis in law. She should withdraw it immediately."