Speaking out.
This morning news broke that actor and political activist Russell Brand was charged with sexual assault and rape after a two year investigation. In a press release from the United Kingdom’s Metropolitan Police Service, the investigation details were disclosed:
“In 1999 a woman was raped in the Bournemouth area, in 2001 a woman was indecently assaulted in the Westminster area of London, in 2004 a woman was orally raped and sexually assaulted in the Westminster area of London and between 2004 and 2005, a woman was sexually assaulted in the Westminster area of London”
Today those investigations have come to an end as Russell Brand, 49, was charged with one count of rape, one count of indecent assault, one count of oral rape, and two counts of sexual assault. All four of these charges relate to four different women.
Brand will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London on May 2.
When the investigation was launched in 2023, Brand took to social media, sharing that he felt this was a coordinated media attack. Brand acknowledged that he was very promiscuous when he was involved with mainstream media, but said that all sexual acts were always consensual.
“I was always transparent about that, then — almost too transparent. And I’m being transparent about it now as well. And to see that transparency metastasized into something criminal, that I absolutely deny, makes me question, is there another agenda at play? Particularly when we’ve seen coordinated media attacks before.”
Today, after the news broke of his charges, Brand took to social media to share a video update as his response. In this video, Brand remained with the same viewpoint that he was being wrongfully charged.
“I was a fool before I lived in the light of the Lord. I was a drug addict, a sex addict and an imbecile, but what I never was was a rapist. I never engaged in non consensual activity, and I pray that you can see that by looking in my eyes.”
Brand then says that he’s grateful that he will have the opportunity to defend these charges in court and prove his innocence.
“I’m now going to have the opportunity to defend these charges in court and I’m incredibly grateful for that.”
While everyone is innocent until proven guilty, unfortunately for Brand, many people on social media were not shocked to hear about these charges, with many noting that he always gave them the “creeps.”
Even The Onion, a media outlet that is notorious for making outlandish false headlines, hit the nail on the head when they published a blog titled “Nation Could Have Sworn Russell Brand Was Already Convicted Sex Offender.”
A portion of the article reads:
“‘Interesting…so Russell Brand definitely wasn’t already found guilty of sexual assault back in, like…2016, 2017?’ said 39-year-old New York resident Scott Hasard, echoing the thoughts of 330 million Americans as he noted that when he saw allegations emerge about the actor, comedian, and podcast host, he had assumed it was simply repackaged content from nearly a decade ago.”
Others, though, feel that Brand is being targeted because of his politics given that the allegations reportedly took place at least two decades ago, but didn’t emerge until he started speaking out about his conservative politics.
Regardless, we’ll have to see what happens now that the actor will have his day in court.
