Russell Brand is breaking his silence amid allegations that he sexually assaulted multiple women.
“It has been an extraordinary and distressing week and I thank you very much for your support and for questioning the information that you have been presented with,” Brand said Sept. 22 in a video posted to X, formerly known as Twitter.
Brand, who denied the allegations against him before they were published, then accused social media platforms, enabled by British legislation, of censoring his content.
Brand's comments come after the actor and comedian’s management company postponed the three remaining dates of Brand’s “Bipolarisation” tour in Britain on Sept. 18., two days after sexual assault allegations against Brand by four women were published and televised following a joint investigation that resulted in a Channel 4 TV documentary and in joint reports in The Times of London and Sunday Times newspapers.
The four women, who have not been named and who NBC News has not spoken to alleged that Brand raped, sexually assaulted or abused them between 2006 and 2013.
One of the women said she was had a three-month relationship with Brand when she was 16. Another woman alleged that Brand raped her in 2012 at his Los Angeles home.
The U.K. Metropolitan Police Service told NBC News that it received a report of a sexual assault allegedly involving Brand that occurred in 2003 in London on Sept. 18, a day after the allegations were reported on television and in newspapers.
TODAY and NBC News have not independently confirmed any of the allegations against Brand.
An attorney for Brand declined to comment to NBC News about the allegations.
Prior to the reports going public, Brand denied the allegations in a video he posted to his social media accounts. The comedian and author said at the time that all of his intimate relationships are “always consensual.”
“But amidst this litany of astonishing, rather baroque attacks are some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute,” Brand said.
Following the allegations, Brand’s talent agency, Tavistock Wood Management Agency, announced on Sept. 17 that they dropped Brand as a client, citing an allegation made against him in 2020.
“Russell Brand categorically and vehemently denied the allegation made in 2020, but we now believe we were horribly misled by him,” the agency said. “TW has terminated all professional ties to Brand.”
On Sept. 18, The Bookseller, a British magazine that covers the publishing industry, shared a statement from Brand’s publisher, Bluebird, was pausing on all future publishing of Brand’s book “Recovery: The Workbook,” a guide to overcoming addictions, due to be released in December.
Read on to learn about the allegations against Brand.
Multiple women allege that Brand raped, sexually assaulted or abused them
Channel 4, The Times and The Sunday Times jointly investigated the allegations against Brand.
In the published reports and the accompanying Channel 4 documentary, four women alleged that Brand had raped, sexually assaulted or abused them between 2006 and 2013.
One woman alleged that Brand ‘groomed’ her at 16
One of Brand’s accusers, who used the pseudonym Alice, told The Times she was 16 years old when she began a three-month relationship with the “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” star, who was then 31.
Though 16 is the legal age of consent in the United Kingdom, the woman alleged that Brand groomed her, pressured her to perform sexual acts and raped her. Alice described to The Times having to push Brand off of her and punching him in the stomach on one occasion.
Alice told The Times that Brand referred to her as “the child” and would send a car for her to be picked up at school and taken to his home.
“Russell engaged in the behaviors of a groomer, looking back, but I didn’t even know what that was then, or what that looked like,” Alice told The Times.
Another woman said Brand raped her in the U.S.
Another one of Brand’s accusers in the Channel 4, The Times and The Sunday Times investigation, who used the name Nadia, said that Brand raped her in 2012 at his Los Angeles residence.
Nadia told reporters that Brand invited her to his home after the two had consensual sex, but on this occasion wanted a “friend” to join them, according to The Times.
When Nadia refused, Brand pushed her against a wall and raped her, she alleged.
One woman alleged that Brand sexually assaulted her when they worked together
One woman in the Channel 4, The Times and The Sunday Times investigation said Brand sexually assaulted her when they worked together in L.A.
Brand was also accused of exposing himself
Brand worked with Channel 4 from 2004 and 2007, when some of the alleged behavior is said to have occurred.
One Channel 4 employee, who used the pseudonym Rachel, told The Times that Brand exposed his penis to her in his dressing room and made insinuation about her performing oral sex on him.
Some Channel 4 colleagues said Brand made them feel like ‘pimps’
Some Channel 4 crew members told the Times that they felt like they were working as a “pimp” for Brand as he pursued members of the audience for sex, according to NBC News.
“We have asked the production company who produced the programs for Channel 4 to investigate these allegations and report their findings properly and satisfactorily to us,” the network said. “Channel 4 is also conducting its own internal investigation, and we would encourage anyone who is aware of such behavior to contact us directly.”
Episodes of “Big Brother’s Big Mouth” and “The Great British Bake Off” featuring Brand have been removed from Channel 4’s streaming service.
Some events allegedly happened while Brand worked for the BBC
Some events the accusers described allegedly happened while Brand worked as a host and presenter for the BBC from 2006 to 2008.
The BBC said in a statement that it is “urgently looking into the issues raised” by the reports.
“Russell Brand worked for a number of different organizations of which the BBC was one,” the statement read. “As is well known, Russell Brand left the BBC after a serious editorial breach in 2008 — as did the then controller of Radio 2. The circumstances of the breach were reviewed in detail at the time. We hope that demonstrates that the BBC takes issues seriously and is prepared to act.”
The U.K. Metropolitan Police Service received a report of an alleged 2003 assault
The U.K. Metropolitan Police Service told NBC News that it received a report of an alleged assault against Brand on Sept. 17, a day after the investigation’s publication and a documentary that also aired Saturday.
The alleged assault occurred in London’s Soho neighborhood in 2003, according to the police department.
“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,” Metropolitan Police Service said.
What has Brand said about the allegations?
In the video denying the allegations posted to his social media account, Brand said the allegations happened during the height of his mainstream fame as an actor when he was “very, very promiscuous.”
The relationships he had at the time “were absolutely always consensual,” he added.
The comedian who was married to pop star Katy Perry from 2010 until 2012, suggested that the reports could be part of campaign to discredit him because of his unorthodox views.
Brand has been criticized for interviewing controversial media personalities including Joe Rogan and for expressing doubts about COVID-19 vaccines.
“It’s been clear to me, or at least it feels to me, like there’s a serious and concerted agenda to control these kinds of spaces and these kind of voices, and I mean my voice along with your voice,” he said.
In his second video, shared Sept. 22, Brand said the Online Safety Bill, which requires companies to take down illegal content, grants "sweeping surveillance and censorship powers." Britain’s Parliament signed off on it Sept. 19.
According to NBC News, Brand's video comes after YouTube blocked him from making money from his channel and the BBC pulled some of his content from its online streaming service. Additionally, a leader of British Parliament’s Media and Sport Committee contacted Rumble — the site Brand will now use to host his platform — with concerns that he will make a profit off it.
In a statement, according to NBC News, Rumble said it would refuse to “join a cancel culture mob."