Courts and Crime
The disgraced comedian and actor has pleaded not guilty to one count of indecent assault, three counts of rape, and three counts of sexual assault
Opening statements for comedian Russell Brand’s London rape trial have begun — and prosecutors have laid out a case alleging that Brand is serial sexual predator who treated his sexual conquest of women as a fun game.
Brand, 51, faces multiple charges related to his interactions with six women between 1999 and 2009; one count of indecent assault, three counts of rape, and three counts of sexual assault. He pleaded not guilty and has publicly denied the allegations.
The comedian is best known for his early career as a BBC reality host and raunchy comedy work in Hollywood staples like 2008’s Forgetting Sarah Marshall and the 2010 comedy Get Him to the Greek. (He spent around 14 months married to Katy Perry before the two divorced.) But in recent years, Brand has publicly pivoted to an influencer and podcaster focused on spirituality and heavily leaning toward anti-government conspiracies.
In the 2023 investigative documentary Russell Brand: In Plain Sight, multiple women came forward with allegations of assault and abuse. Brand has publicly said that he slept with many women during his early comedy era — including admitting in a Megyn Kelly interview that he slept with a 16-year-old when he was 30 — but has always maintained that the sexual encounters were consensual and represent a time in his life when drug use and narcissism ruled.
“Consensual sex with a lot of people, when there is a strong power differential, as there is when you are a famous man who has the ability to attract women that I had at that time, I think involves exploitation. I think it is exploitative,” Brand said in April. “I recognize that my sexual conduct in the past was selfish and I did not apply enough consideration, barely any I suppose, really, to how that sex was affecting other people.”
In her opening remarks, lead prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones told the court that Brand was “a flirt with a huge sexual appetite — childlike in his expectation that his every desire should be met.” According to Karmy-Jones, this belief meant that “to the defendant, women were simply a means to an end — that end being groping them, sexually or indecently assaulting them or vaginally, orally or anally raping them.
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“The circumstances of the offending were as wide and as varied as the defendant’s career,” she added Wednesday. “His strong desire for some form of sexual contact was indiscriminate and voracious.” Karmy-Jones also claimed that after alleged assaults, Brand would pretend nothing had happened, often leaving abruptly or refusing to mention it again.
Each of the six women accusing Brand say that they came forward independently and did not know each other. But they describe a similar modus operandi from Brand — interest, then immediate and unwanted action, then comedy as a means of deflection. In 1999, one woman invited Brand to her room and exited her bathroom to find him partially naked. She claims he raped her and describes “drifting out of her head, knowing there was nothing she could do.” A second woman claims Brand grabbed her in 2001 while she was working at MTV, while another alleges she was dragged into the bathroom at a 2004 party and assaulted.
A fourth woman says Brand groped and kissed her while she fought in 2005 at Capital Radio, while another alleges she was forced to massage him in 2009 while he pressed his face into her groin area. A sixth woman claimed in 2009 she agreed to have sex with Brand but he allegedly removed the condom and did not stop when she asked.
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“Six women, separate women, different allegations,” Karmy-Jones said in court. “When you hear them I have no doubt that you will find their evidence compelling.”
Brand has been attending court with his wife, illustrator Laura Gallacher. The trial is expected to continue for at least six weeks.