British actor and comedian Russell Brand arrives at Westminster Magistrates Court in London on May 2, 2025. Brand has been charged with rape and a number of other sexual offences alleged to have taken place between 1999 and 2005 involving four women. (Photo by BENJAMIN CREMEL / AFP)
A British prosecutor told a London jury that comedian Russell Brand was a “sexual predator” who was “ruthless, calculated and manipulative” when targeting women for sex, speaking Wednesday at the start of the actor’s rape and sexual assault trial.
The one-time left-wing personality, who shot to fame as a television and radio presenter, faces seven sexual offence charges involving six women. He denies all the alleged offences.
Brand, 51, looked straight ahead as the charges against him were read to the jury.
Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones said the alleged offences took place between 1999 and 2009, a decade when Brand’s career was beginning to flourish.
Some of the women he targeted said no, others did not have the opportunity to react, she said, adding that Brand was “not deterred”.
His desire for sexual contact was “indiscriminate and voracious”, she said.
He used charm and comic talents when he wanted something but would then be “demanding and entitled … childlike in his expectation that his every desire should be met,” Karmy-Jones told the jury of eight men and four women.
“He was ruthless, calculated and manipulative, and the prosecution say — a sexual predator,” she added.
The identities of the women will not be revealed during the trial.
Brand, dressed in a dark suit, black and white striped shirt and long white tie, arrived for the start of the case at London’s Southwark Crown Court in a black Mercedes-Benz van accompanied by his wife Laura.
Karmy-Jones said acquaintances of Brand recalled him bragging that he wanted to “bed 5,000 women in his lifetime”, adding that “you have to tell them what they need to hear”.
This, the prosecutor said, was a clear indication of “how manipulative the defendant could be”.
Brand has in recent years reinvented himself as a conservative and faith-based guru for millions of social media followers.
He has pleaded not guilty to all seven of the charges — three counts of rape, three of sexual assault and one charge of indecent assault.
The trial at London’s Southwark Crown Court should last around six weeks but could stretch into December.
The trial is attracting intense media scrutiny, with numerous British outlets launching dedicated podcasts and US channels reporting from outside the court.
Born to working-class parents in Essex in eastern England, Brand launched a successful stand-up comedy career as a teenager.
He became a household name as a television presenter on MTV, Channel 4 and the BBC, also penning newspaper columns and two autobiographies.
He then made a foray into Hollywood, starring in several hit films, and was in a brief, but high-profile, marriage to US pop star Katy Perry.
Now remarried and living in Florida with his young family, he has gained a new following as an influencer, with six million subscribers on YouTube, 10.1 million on X and 4.9 million on Instagram.
AFP