Russell Brand, a British comedian and actor, was detained on Friday in central London on suspicion of five counts of rape and other sexual offence.
Brand, 49, was charged last month after establishing himself as the husband of pop star Katy Perry with his risky comedy routines.
The celebrity, who was seated in front of Westminster Magistrates’ Court for his first court hearing, did not speak as he fought through a crowd of reporters and onlookers while casually dressed in a dark shirt with gold-framed sunglasses and a dark shirt.
Brand is alleged to currently reside in the United States and is facing two counts of rape, two of sexual assault, and one of indecent assault.
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Brand denied all the alleged crimes and expressed his gratitude for the “opportunity” to defend himself in a video response on X after being charged last month.
Before I lived in the light of the Lord, I was a fool. I was an imbecile, sex addict, and drug addict before becoming an addict. He claimed in the video that he had never engaged in any non-consensual behavior.
The allegations that four women were involved in crimes between 1999 and 2005 are the subject of the charges.
Following a police investigation into allegations following the broadcast of a Channel 4 documentary in September 2023, the prosecution charged him.
The investigation is still ongoing, according to London’s Metropolitan Police, and they urged “anyone who has been affected by this case, or anyone with any information” to contact officers.
Millions of online fans
In addition to the sexual assault and oral rape of a woman in 2004 in the Westminster area of central London, Brand is accused of raping a woman in 1999 in the Bournemouth area of England’s south coast.
He is also accused of sexually assaulting another woman between 2004 and 2005, both of which are alleged to have occurred in Westminster.
As a teenager in Essex, east of London, Brand began his stand-up career in 1975 as a child of working-class parents.
He first appeared on stage as a provocative, frequently wry comedian before becoming a Hollywood star, then an online conspiracy theorist and anti-establishment guru with millions of followers.
He has almost seven million YouTube subscribers, ten thousand on X, and 4.8 million on Instagram.
He hosted a radio program on the BBC Radio 2 between 2006 and 2008, but he abruptly stopped after playing a sexually explicit voicemail for Andrew Sachs, the actor who plays the “Fawlty Towers” actor, for his granddaughter.
He also hosted a “Big Brother” spin-off show for a number of years, wrote columns for the liberal Guardian newspaper, and wrote two autobiographies.
Between 2010 and 2012, Brand and US actor Perry were married for 14 months.
He now has three children with Laura Gallacher, an author and illustrator.
Source: Channels TV
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