Russell Brand

• 1. Introduction

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  Russell Brand, the English comedian and podcaster, faced Jeremy Paxman on BBC Newsnight on the 23rd of October 2013. Asked what a revolution would look like, he gave an answer about money. He said: "I say profit is a filthy word, because wherever there is a profit there is also a deficit."

  The remark suited a performer who has rarely been ignored. Few careers have swung so widely between applause and outrage. Broadcasters hired Brand, lost him, and hired him again, and audiences were never sure whether to laugh or wince.

  This documentary follows three questions. What shaped a child whose early years were marked by illness and instability? Why did television and radio keep making room for a performer who so often crossed lines? And what happened later, when a joint newspaper and television investigation put serious accusations before the public, accusations that he denies?

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• 2. Early Years

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  Russell Edward Brand was born on the 4th of June 1975 at Orsett Hospital in Grays, Essex. His parents were Barbara Elizabeth Nichols and Ronald Henry Brand, a photographer. They separated when their son was six months old, and his mother raised him.

  When Brand was eight, his mother was diagnosed with uterine cancer, and breast cancer followed a year later. He lived with relatives while she was treated. At 14 he developed bulimia nervosa. At 16 he left home after disagreements with his mother's partner, and he began using cannabis, amphetamines, LSD and ecstasy.

  Ronald Brand, the photographer, saw his son only sporadically. Brand describes it as a "strange relationship". During a trip to Thailand in Brand's teenage years, his father took him to visit prostitutes.

  Bugsy Malone gave Brand his first taste of the stage at the age of 15, in a school production. He then found work as a film extra. After attending Grays School, he won a place at the Italia Conti Academy in 1991, and Essex County Council paid for his first year. He was expelled after that year for illegal drug use and poor attendance. Brand has also said that a tutor sexually abused him. Without drama school behind him, he would have to find his audience elsewhere.

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• 3. Confessional Comedy

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  Fourth place at the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year final in 2000 was not a win. It did catch the eye of agent Nigel Klarfeld of Bound and Gagged Comedy Ltd. That same year Brand made his Edinburgh Festival Fringe debut in Pablo Diablo's Cryptic Triptych. He shared the bill with ventriloquist Mark Felgate and the Anglo-Iranian comic Shaparak Khorsandi.

  In 2004 he took his first solo show to Edinburgh. Called Better Now, it was a confessional account of his heroin addiction. He returned in 2005 with Eroticised Humour. In 2006 he launched his first nationwide tour, Shame, built on embarrassing incidents from his own life and the way tabloids covered him. It was released on DVD as Russell Brand: Live.

  In March 2007 he co-hosted an evening of Teenage Cancer Trust gigs with Noel Fielding. In December 2007 he performed for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip at the Royal Variety Performance. He had already appeared at Amnesty International's Secret Policeman's Ball in 2006, and he returned to it in 2012 at Radio City Music Hall.

  His 2007 tour, Only Joking, was released on DVD as Doin' Life. Then he turned to America. A Comedy Central special, Russell Brand in New York, aired in March 2009. From January to April that year he toured Britain, America and Australia with Scandalous. Four extra dates in November raised money for Focus 12, a drug charity.

  Messiah Complex, which he toured in 2013, took on advertising, the laws on drug addiction and the way his heroes are portrayed. Those heroes included Gandhi, Guevara, Malcolm X and Jesus. Brand joked that he resembled them in comically contrived ways.

  In January 2017 he announced a new tour, Re:Birth. It opened in April 2017 and was meant to run until November 2018. On the 30th of April 2018 he cancelled the remaining dates after his mother was critically injured in a hit-and-run accident. The show had been filmed in London that April, and Netflix released it on the 4th of December 2018.

  Richard Pryor, Bill Hicks and Peter Cook head the list of comedians Brand credits as influences. The list also includes Lenny Bruce, Tony Hancock, Jack Kerouac, Stewart Lee, Tenacious D, Eddie Murphy and Monty Python. Among his five favourite films he chose Life of Brian. In 2009 he appeared in the documentary Monty Python: Almost the Truth (Lawyers Cut).

  His special Brandemic was released on the 15th of March 2023, the same year his career would face its gravest test.

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• 4. Presenter Under Fire

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  MTV UK gave Brand his first presenting job in 2000, as a video journalist. He fronted Dancefloor Chart, touring nightclubs in Britain and Ibiza, and hosted a tea-time request show called Select. His time there ended several days after he arrived at work dressed as Osama bin Laden, the day after the 11th of September 2001 attacks. He had also brought his drug dealer into the studio.

  In 2002 he conceived, wrote and hosted RE:Brand, a series about cultural taboos, made with his comic partner Matt Morgan. It ran on UK Play, a digital satellite channel that no longer exists. The same year he began a Sunday afternoon radio show with Morgan on London's Xfm. He was dismissed after reading pornographic material on air.

  The real breakthrough came in 2004 with Big Brother's Eforum on E4, a sister show to Big Brother 5. It let celebrity guests and the public weigh in on events inside the house. For Big Brother 6 it became Big Brother's Big Mouth. When Brand left after three years, he thanked producers for "taking the risk of employing an ex-junkie twerp". He called his time there "an unprecedented joy". On the 8th of January 2008 he became the fifth celebrity to hijack the Big Brother house.

  Early in 2006 Brand returned to MTV with the chat show 1 Leicester Square, rescheduled to suit a more adult tone. Guests included Tom Cruise, Uma Thurman, The Mighty Boosh and Boy George. His E4 debate show, Russell Brand's Got Issues, opened to disappointing viewing figures despite heavy promotion. Channel 4 took it over as The Russell Brand Show. The first episode aired on the 24th of November, and the run lasted five weeks.

  The year 2007 brought larger stages. Brand hosted the Brit Awards, where he presented Oasis with an award for outstanding contribution to music. On the 7th of July he presented the UK leg of Live Earth at Wembley Stadium. Ponderland began on Channel 4 on the 22nd of October 2007, using stand-up to explore topics like childhood and science. It ran for twelve episodes across two series. On the 12th of December, BBC Four aired Russell Brand On the Road, a documentary about Jack Kerouac and his novel, presented with Matt Morgan.

  The 2008 MTV Video Music Awards showed how loudly his humour could land in America. US media had doubted that a host so little known there could work. On stage, Brand called the night the start of a new Britney Spears era. He said, "If there was a female Christ, it's Britney". He urged viewers to elect Barack Obama and mocked then-President George W. Bush. He also teased the Jonas Brothers about their purity rings, and he apologised for that joke later in the show. Some offended viewers sent him death threats.

  Brand says MTV still invited him back, because ratings were 20 per cent higher than the year before. He hosted again on the 13th of September 2009 at Radio City Music Hall. Ratings were the best since 2004. On the 12th of February 2011 he guest hosted Saturday Night Live. In 2012 he hosted the MTV Movie Awards and Brand X with Russell Brand, a late-night talk show on FX. It drew lukewarm reviews and middling ratings, and it was cancelled in 2013 after two seasons.

  In 2005 he co-hosted three one-off shows with Karl Pilkington on BBC Radio 6 Music. From April 2006 he co-hosted The Russell Brand Show there. That November it moved to BBC Radio 2 on Saturday nights, from 9 pm to 11 pm, and it regularly drew about 400,000 listeners.

  On the 18th of October 2008, a pre-recorded edition of that show broadcast lewd phone messages left for the actor Andrew Sachs, then aged 78. Brand and Jonathan Ross had recorded them. Ross made a crude remark about Sachs's granddaughter Georgina Baillie, whom Brand had dated. Initial interest was small. Then the Daily Mail ran a story about the calls, and complaints poured in. Brand resigned from the BBC, and Ross was suspended without pay. Britain's broadcast regulator fined the BBC £150,000. On the 21st of November 2008 the BBC Trust called the calls a "deplorable intrusion with no editorial justification".

  That same year, a live show at the Royal & Derngate theatre in Northampton produced another storm. Brand phoned police and pretended to be a witness named Sarah, claiming to have seen a man responsible for a number of assaults. Northamptonshire Police decided against prosecuting but said they would discourage such calls. Lynda Yorke of Leicester Rape Crisis Centre said the call was "in very poor taste". James Donaghy of The Guardian said it showed "catastrophically poor judgment". Brand apologised.

  He did not leave radio for good. On the 19th of April 2009 he and Noel Gallagher hosted a one-off football show on Talksport. From the 9th of October 2010 he returned there with a Saturday night show that lasted 20 weeks. On the 18th of March 2013 he reunited with Matt Morgan on Xfm for a one-off special raising money for the Teenage Cancer Trust. In 2017 he began a Sunday slot from 11 am to 1 pm with Morgan and Mr Gee. From January 2018 it went on hiatus.

  The Russell Brand Podcast launched on the 25th of February 2015 through audioBoom, twice a week. It reunited Brand with Matt Morgan and the poet Mr Gee, and it ended after 24 episodes. In 2017 he launched Under the Skin with Russell Brand, interviewing guests from academia, popular culture and the arts.

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• 5. Hollywood and the Page

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  Brand auditioned for the part of Super Hans in the Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show, but the role went to Matt King. His early screen credits were smaller. In 1994 he appeared in episodes of The Bill and the children's series Mud. In 2005 he played Tommy in the BBC sitcom Blessed, written and directed by Ben Elton. After a small part in Penelope in 2006, he landed his first major film role as Flash Harry in St Trinian's in 2007.

  America noticed him in 2008 with Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Brand played Aldous Snow, a rock star and the boyfriend of the title character, played by Kristen Bell. Reviews were rave. He has said the part was rewritten from an author to a rock star because of his audition. On the 25th of December 2008 he appeared alongside Adam Sandler in the Disney film Bedtime Stories. In 2010 he brought Snow back in Get Him to the Greek, which reunited him with Jonah Hill, director Nicholas Stoller and producer Judd Apatow.

  Voice work and spectacle followed. In 2010 he played Trinculo in Julie Taymor's version of Shakespeare's The Tempest. He also voiced Dr. Nefario in Despicable Me, returning for the 2013 sequel and the 2022 prequel Minions: The Rise of Gru. He appeared as himself in The Simpsons episode "Angry Dad: The Movie". In April 2011 he voiced the protagonist E.B. in the live action and animated film Hop, which opened at number one at the US Friday box office with $11.4 million. That same month he played the title role in a remake of Arthur, written by Peter Baynham, which disappointed at the box office. In June 2012 he played Lonny in Rock of Ages.

  After appearing as William Carr in Diablo Cody's Paradise in 2013, Brand took a break from acting. He returned in 2016 as the villain Creek in the animated Trolls, and he played God in Army of One with Nicolas Cage. In 2018 and 2019 he had a recurring part as Lance Klians in the last two seasons of the HBO series Ballers. Later roles included Tristan Trent in Four Kids and It in 2020 and Linus Windlesham in Kenneth Branagh's 2022 remake of Death on the Nile. Along the way he collected three British Comedy Awards and a BAFTA nomination.

  Offscreen he built companies. As of October 2008 he ran Vanity Projects, whose latest production, Russell Brand Doing Life, came out in 2009. In 2011, with his friend Nik Linnen, he founded Branded Films. It operates from the Warner Bros. studios in Burbank, California, and focuses on films that Brand stars in. Other projects tied to him include a Drop Dead Fred remake and a film called Bad Father, co-written with Morgan. Fox Studios also picked up a Rentaghost adaptation in 2011, with Ben Stiller attached.

  Books ran alongside the films. From 2006 until 2009 he wrote a Guardian sports column about West Ham United and the England football team. A 2007 collection of those columns became Irons in the Fire. His first autobiography, My Booky Wook, appeared on the 15th of November 2007. Andrew Anthony of The Observer said that its gleeful tale of drugs and debauchery "puts most other celebrity memoirs to shame".

  In June 2008 HarperCollins signed him to a two-book deal worth £1.8 million. Articles of Faith, a collection of his Guardian columns that examined his philosophy, came out on the 16th of October 2008. It also includes his football interviews with Noel Gallagher, James Corden and David Baddiel. The second book, Booky Wook 2: This Time It's Personal, followed on the 30th of September 2010. Macmillan published Recovery: Freedom from Our Addictions in September 2017, and Mentors: How To Help and Be Helped followed in January 2019.

  Reviewers were less kind to other titles. His children's book Russell Brand's Trickster Tales: The Pied Piper of Hamelin, illustrated by Chris Riddell, appeared in November 2014. Lucy Mangan wrote in The Guardian of "the on-Brand need to be noticed" on every page. Nicholas Tucker of The Independent called the language "wearingly offensive".

  Revolution, published by Random House in October 2014, split critics just as sharply. Nick Cohen of The Observer called the writing "atrocious". Steve Richards of The Independent praised its "verve" and contrasted it with the "tame wooden prose" of elected politicians.

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• 6. Political Awakening

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  In January 2009 Brand signed a celebrity letter to The Independent, organised around the Hoping Foundation, condemning Israeli military operations in Gaza. The next month he joined other entertainers in writing to The Times in defence of Baháʼí Faith leaders then on trial in Iran. In April 2009 he attended the G-20 London summit protests and spoke to the press. In 2012 the Dalai Lama chose him to host a youth event in Manchester, explaining that Brand had shown the power of spirituality to change his own life.

  In April 2012 Brand gave evidence to a parliamentary committee on drug addiction and argued that drugs should be decriminalised. He said: "Being arrested isn't a lesson, it's just an administrative blip." Part of that testimony appeared in the BBC Three documentary Russell Brand: From Addiction to Recovery, which aired in December 2012. He said he made it after the 2011 death of his friend Amy Winehouse.

  In June 2013 he appeared in a video supporting Chelsea Manning. On the 3rd of September, accepting the Oracle award at the GQ Awards, he noted that sponsor Hugo Boss once made uniforms for the Gestapo. He then goose-stepped across the stage in imitation of the Nazi march. Editor Dylan Jones confronted him and called the speech very offensive, and Brand was ejected. Brand replied that the Nazis' treatment of Jewish people was very offensive.

  On the 14th of October 2013 the New Statesman published an issue that Brand guest-edited on the theme of revolution. In it he objected to the destruction of the Earth through greed and exploitation. He called for a change in consciousness to accompany political and economic measures. In November he joined the Anonymous Million Mask March in London, which protested against cuts, corruption and growing state surveillance.

  The Trews: True News with Russell Brand launched on YouTube in 2014. The show then halted for nearly a year while Brand stayed away from social media to focus on personal and professional growth. In June 2014 he addressed the People's Assembly Against Austerity, a march of an estimated 50,000 people from the BBC office to Westminster. He told the crowd: "Power isn't there, it is here, within us."

  Brand had been urging people not to vote, and the idea drew fire. In October 2014 John Lydon of the Sex Pistols told Polly Toynbee of The Guardian that it was "the most idiotic thing I've ever heard". A November 2014 YouGov poll of celebrities picked Brand as having the most negative influence on political debate, at 46 per cent. It also found that 60 per cent of respondents disliked him and 28 per cent liked him.

  Back on Newsnight, this time with Evan Davis, Brand was asked about 9/11 conspiracy theories. He said "we have to remain open-minded" about that kind of possibility. The section ended with him saying he did not "want to talk about daft conspiracy theories". His BBC Three documentary Russell Brand: End the Drugs War aired on the 26th of November 2014. In it he explored other countries' policies in search of a compassionate approach. He said: "People think compassion is 'wet liberalism'; it's not, it's pragmatic."

  On the 2nd of December 2014 Brand joined residents of the New Era housing estate in East London protesting against rent rises. Channel 4 News reporter Paraic O'Brien kept pressing him about the value of his own rented property. Brand called the reporter a "snide", and the clip went viral. On the 11th of December, on Question Time, he called Nigel Farage "a pound shop Enoch Powell". In January 2015, after Brand insulted Ed Balls on a Channel 4 quiz, Balls answered with "a pound shop Ben Elton".

  The Trew Era Cafe opened on the 26th of March 2015 on the New Era estate in the London Borough of Hackney. Revolution book money paid for it, and it employed recovering drug addicts. In September 2016 Brand donated it to the Rehabilitation for Addicted Prisoners Trust. In March 2015 readers of Prospect magazine voted him the fourth most influential thinker in the world. Only Thomas Piketty, Yanis Varoufakis and Naomi Klein ranked higher.

  Two films reflected on this phase. Brand: A Second Coming, about his journey into political activism, premiered at the South by Southwest festival in Austin in March 2015. The Emperor's New Clothes, made with director Michael Winterbottom, premiered internationally at the Tribeca Film Festival on the 24th of April 2015. It examines the 2008 financial crisis and global inequality.

  Then came a reversal. On the 29th of April 2015, eight days before the general election, The Trews published Brand's interview with Labour leader Ed Miliband. David Cameron called the interview a "joke". The next day Brand released conversations with Green Party leader Natalie Bennett and Green MP Caroline Lucas, backing Lucas in Brighton. He dropped his anti-voting position and told fans, "You gotta vote Labour". He was not registered to vote that year. Later in 2015 he endorsed Jeremy Corbyn in the Labour leadership contest.

  In September 2021 Brand told people at his tour how to get around COVID-19 safety measures. The following month YouTube began reviewing some of his videos against its vaccine policies. During the pandemic his channel became much more active and shifted rightward, and it was accused of promoting COVID denial and other conspiracy theories. Culture reporter Louis Chilton said the videos are usually framed as a contrarian take or a call-out of media hypocrisy, often hinting at a vague, world-altering conspiracy. In March 2023 Finn McRedmond of the New Statesman, the magazine Brand once guest-edited, said he had blended "trad-socialist values" with "all the suspicions and anxieties of the new American right".

  In 2022 Brand said the world had "lapsed into a terrible technocratic, globalist agenda" after the World Health Organization held meetings on a pandemic treaty. He accused the media of ignoring the Canada convoy protest. He also promoted unfounded claims about US bioweapon labs in Ukraine. Elon Musk defended him on Twitter, saying Brand seemed "more balanced & insightful" than his critics. In September 2022 YouTube removed one of his videos under its medical misinformation policy. Brand moved his channel to Rumble and launched the daily live show Stay Free with Russell Brand.

  On the 15th of May 2024 he performed a comedy set at a campaign event for presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He was paid around $70,000. In July 2024 he attended the Republican National Convention, and in early August he officially endorsed Kennedy. In 2024 he also promoted a "magic amulet" that he said protected against "corruption" by "evil energies" and "lethal signals", citing Wi-Fi. No scientific evidence supports claims that Wi-Fi signals are harmful. Brand was later a prominent speaker at Turning Point USA's AmericaFest 2025, where he joked about Katy Perry's relationship with Justin Trudeau.

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• 7. Recovery, Love and Faith

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  Drug-related incidents led to Brand's arrest on 12 occasions. He was ejected from the Gilded Balloon in Edinburgh. After a later show in the city in 2004, a reviewer said "you'd rather hug him than hit him", because by then he had embraced recovery.

  His agent, John Noel, set his sobriety in motion after Brand was caught using heroin in a bathroom during a Christmas party. Brand names his practice of transcendental meditation as a major factor in his recovery. He was a patron of Focus 12, a drug treatment and rehabilitation charity he had used himself, until it closed in 2018. In 2009 he organised three fundraisers for it, in London, Dublin and Belfast. He has also acted as a sponsor for many people in treatment.

  On the 16th of September 2010 Brand was arrested on suspected battery. He had allegedly attacked a paparazzo who blocked him and his then-fiancée Katy Perry as they headed for a flight at Los Angeles International Airport. The photographer held a citizen's arrest until police arrived. Brand was released the next day after posting $20,000 bail. On the 15th of March 2012 a warrant was issued in New Orleans over claims that he threw a photographer's mobile phone through a window. Brand offered to pay for the window and appeared voluntarily at a police station.

  Brand has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and bipolar disorder. He also says he has experienced pornography addiction and a period of self-harming.

  Katy Perry first crossed his path in mid-2009, when she filmed a cameo for Get Him to the Greek that was cut from the film. They began dating after meeting again at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards in September. They became engaged on New Year's Eve 2009 during a holiday in India. They married there on the 23rd of October 2010, in a Hindu ceremony near the Ranthambhore tiger sanctuary in Rajasthan. Brand filed for divorce on the 30th of December 2011, citing irreconcilable differences, and it was finalised in July 2012.

  Perry said the last she heard from him was a text message on the 31st of December 2011, telling her he was divorcing her. Brand told Howard Stern that he had been extremely in love with her but that it did not work out for practical reasons. He had married without a prenuptial agreement. He could have claimed half of the estimated $44 million she earned during the marriage, but he declined.

  Geri Halliwell briefly dated Brand in 2012. From 2013 to 2014 he was with Jemima Goldsmith. In November 2013 The Sun printed a story alleging that he had been unfaithful to her. In May 2014 Brand received unspecified libel damages from the paper and said he would donate them to the Hillsborough Justice Campaign. The couple parted in September 2014.

  Since 2015 Brand has been with Laura Gallacher, a Scottish blogger and former restaurateur. She is the sister of presenter Kirsty Gallacher. They first dated in 2007, when she was 19 and he was 30. Their first daughter was born in November 2016. They married in Henley-on-Thames on the 26th of August 2017, and a second daughter followed in July 2018. In January 2024 Brand confirmed that a third child, a son, had been born in 2023.

  At the time of his wedding Brand lived near Henley-on-Thames, and he owns The Crown Inn pub in Pishill, a nearby village. In 2011 he was best man at Noel Gallagher's wedding to Sara MacDonald. He is an avid supporter of West Ham United. Since 2016 he has trained in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and holds a purple belt, and he credits the art with improving his life in several ways.

  In a 2007 Guardian column, Brand wrote that he said Hare Krishna as often as possible, "sometimes even when I'm not being filmed". He was once a Buddhist. In 2017 he told The Guardian that he believed in a Higher Power as described by Alcoholics Anonymous. He later moved toward Christian practice, reciting the Lord's Prayer daily and trying to reach Christ consciousness. Bear Grylls baptised him in water on the 28th of April 2024.

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• 8. Allegations and Charges

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  Dannii Minogue said in a 2006 interview that Brand had sexually harassed her after she appeared on his television show. She called him "a bit of a vile predator" and said he "wouldn't take no for an answer". In 2007, on his BBC Radio 2 show, Brand phoned Jimmy Savile and asked to meet him. He joked that his personal assistant was obliged to greet anyone he demanded. That exchange later featured in a 2023 Channel 4 documentary. From 2006 to 2008, while Brand worked at the BBC, two complaints were received about sexual misconduct and unprofessional workplace behaviour. Six more arrived afterwards.

  In 2014 his former girlfriend Jordan Martin accused him of sexual assault and physical and emotional abuse during their six-month relationship in 2007. She said he assaulted her at the Lowry Hotel in Salford after becoming angry that she had spoken to an ex-boyfriend. In October 2014 Vanity Fair asked Brand about accusations of misogyny. He said that the life he had lived made the charge "quite legitimate". He added that "redemption is a great part of my narrative".

  Katherine Ryan filmed a programme with Brand in 2018. In November 2022 she said on Louis Theroux Interviews, without naming him, that she had told a man to his face that he was a predator. She called it "an open secret" and "a litigious minefield".

  The Sunday Times began inquiries in early 2019 after learning of allegations of sexual misconduct. In 2022 Channel 4's Dispatches began working with The Sunday Times and The Times. On the 16th of September 2023 the joint investigation published accusations from four women, who spoke anonymously, of sexual assault and emotional abuse between 2006 and 2013. A fifth woman accused him of exposing himself to her. The accusations also featured in the Dispatches episode Russell Brand: In Plain Sight.

  The Times said the women did not know each other, and most stayed anonymous for fear of public harassment. The youngest was 16, the age of consent throughout the UK, when the alleged abuse began, while Brand was 31. Several women felt compelled to speak because of his new prominence as an online wellness influencer. The reports also said complaints had reached Lesley Douglas, then controller of BBC Radio 2, in 2007. They alleged that Brand urinated into a bottle in full view of everyone in the studio and hurled objects in fits of rage. Production company Endemol and Channel 4 expressed regret that the women had not felt supported.

  Brand denied any criminal wrongdoing. He said his relationships were "absolutely always consensual" and came from a period when he was "very, very promiscuous". He said the reporting contained "a litany" of "astonishing, rather baroque attacks" and "some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute". The woman who was 16 said she began a relationship with Brand then and that he called her "the child". In a 2026 interview Brand admitted having sex with a 16-year-old, saying fame and addiction created an "opportunity for endless consent" that made him an "exploiter of women".

  On the 16th of September 2023, Brand played the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre in London. He told the audience there were things he absolutely could not talk about. On the 18th of September all remaining tour dates were postponed. His agent Tavistock Wood dropped him, saying in a statement that it now believed it had been "horribly misled". On the 19th of September YouTube suspended his ability to earn money from his channels. BBC director general Tim Davie announced an internal review of complaints from Brand's years at the corporation. On the 21st of September Rumble chief executive Chris Pavlovski said his company would not "join a cancel culture mob".

  Vanessa Feltz released a clip of a 2006 appearance on his show in which he asked to "have it off" with her or her daughters. Lorraine Kelly said she felt uncomfortable on The Graham Norton Show in 2007 after Brand touched her thigh and called her a "slut". On the 21st of September 2023 another woman accused him of exposing himself to her at the BBC's Los Angeles office in 2008.

  On the 3rd of November 2023 a woman filed a lawsuit in New York under the Adult Survivors Act, which gave victims of offences past their limitation period a year to sue. She had been an extra on Arthur in 2010. She accused Brand of exposing himself and later trapping and assaulting her in a bathroom. Warner Bros. was named for neglecting, aiding and abetting misconduct. Brand denied the allegation, saying he had been sober for "approximately eight years" at the time. In February 2025 he was also sued for sexual abuse at the High Court in London. His deposition deadline for the US case was extended to the 30th of October 2025.

  The Metropolitan Police received an allegation on the 17th of September 2023 of a sexual assault in Soho, London, in 2003. On the 19th of November 2023 Brand was questioned by police. In November 2024 detectives sent the Crown Prosecution Service a file of evidence covering alleged offences between 2006 and 2013. On the 4th of April 2025 the Metropolitan Police charged him with one count of rape, one of indecent assault, one of oral rape and two of sexual assault. The charges concerned four women and alleged offences in Westminster and Bournemouth between 1999 and 2005.

  Brand posted a video denying the charges. He said: "I'm now going to have the opportunity to defend these charges in court and I'm incredibly grateful for that." The same day three more women reported to the Metropolitan Police that he had sexually assaulted and abused them. In the days that followed, the Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital charity suspended him indefinitely as an ambassador, and the prayer app Hallow dropped him as a spokesperson.

  On the 2nd of May 2025 Brand appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court and was granted bail. He spoke only to confirm his name, date of birth and address and to say he understood his bail conditions. The case went to the Old Bailey, and on the 30th of May he pleaded not guilty. In December 2025 the Crown Prosecution Service authorised two further charges, one of rape and one of sexual assault, involving two additional women. After a video link appearance on the 20th of January 2026 he was granted bail again, and on the 17th of February 2026 he appeared at Southwark Crown Court. A trial on the first charges was scheduled to begin on the 16th of June 2026.

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