Save articles for later
Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.
An Australian woman says Russell Brand followed her into a bathroom and showed her his penis before joking about it on air.
The claim is the latest in a wave of sexual assault allegations against the English comedian this month.
Four women interviewed by The Sunday Times and Channel 4 TV’s Dispatches in Britain accused Brand of sexual offences, including rape, between 2006 and 2013. Brand denied the allegations and said all of his relationships have been consensual.
Russell Brand leaves a London theatre where he performed on September 16 after allegations emerged in The Sunday Times and on UK television.Credit: AP
In an interview aired on Sunday night, Australian woman Rachel* told 60 Minutes she met Brand in 2008 when she was working in a Los Angeles building that shared space with the BBC.
After the doorbell rang repeatedly, she answered the door to Brand and his large entourage before a recording session for his BBC Radio 2 show, The Russell Brand Show.
The woman told 60 Minutes she did not know who he was and there was little interaction between them. But 15 minutes later, when she went to the bathroom to get some medication, Brand followed her in, Rachel said.
“I squatted down. I’ve opened up a cupboard where the first aid kit is kept, along with our medicines,” she said.
Australian woman Rachel has spoken out about what she says was her experience with Brand. Credit: 60 Minutes
“And when I turned around, there was a groin in front of me.”
Rachel alleges Brand called her “a bit of all right” and then said “I’m going to f— you”, which she rebuffed.
He then placed his penis on his hand in front of her, she said.
“And then, before you know it, there was a loud banging on the door. They were calling for him to come into the studio. And I thought, ‘Oh, my god. Thank god, I’ve been spared this creep.’ ”
Rachel texted a staff member from the BBC to recount the incident. The staff member had replied: “Yes, I know. He’s talking about it on air.”
In a recording of The Russell Brand Show alongside comedian Matt Morgan which was aired on June 21, 2008, Brand can be heard referring to the incident with Rachel.
In response, Morgan said it had been “25 minutes since [Brand] showed his willy to a lady … to a receptionist”.
Rachel said she believed the audio had not been included in the final cut of the show, but the recording was unearthed after the allegations surfaced this month.
Listening to the audio made her feel “disgusted and ashamed”, Rachel said, but she believed it vindicated the sexual assault allegation.
“You don’t want to be that one that brings this to light … In hindsight, I wish I had. But I actually thought nobody would’ve believed what I had to say and I couldn’t be that person to do it,” she said.
In a statement to the BBC, Morgan said he was “not aware until now” of the nature of the incident between Brand and Rachel and condemned any mistreatment of women.
“I have expressed my regret now looking back at the impact of the show, and this is a further example,” he said.
Brand rose to popularity through his comedy career, before hosting radio and television shows, appearing in Hollywood movies and writing memoirs about his battles with drugs and sex addiction. He was married to singer Katy Perry between 2010 and 2012.
In recent years, he largely disappeared from mainstream media, building up a large following touting conspiracies about COVID-19 and vaccines on YouTube, where he has more than 6 million subscribers.
The women who spoke to The Sunday Times and Dispatches, who have not been named, included one who said she was sexually assaulted during a relationship with Brand – then 31 – when she was 16. Another woman said Brand raped her in Los Angeles in 2012.
The Metropolitan Police in London said last week it had received a report of an assault alleged to have taken place in Soho in 2003, three years before the earliest of the other assault allegations.
*Not her real name. The victim’s name has been changed to protect her identity.
If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) or Lifeline 131 114.
Most Viewed in National
From our partners
Source: Read Full Article
