Russell Brand pleads not guilty to rape and sexual assault charges
By
Sana Noor Haq
, CNN
Russell Brand.
Photo:
ANDREW COWIE / AFP
British comedian and actor Russell Brand pled not guilty to multiple charges of rape and sexual assault at a court in London on Friday.
In April, 49-year-old Brand was charged with one count of rape, one count of indecent assault, and one count of oral rape, as well as two counts of sexual assault. The charges relate to four separate women.
The alleged assaults took place between 1999 and 2005. He has previously denied all the allegations.
Brand walked into the courtroom at Southwark Crown Court wearing a dark suit and an unbuttoned, pinstripe shirt. He spoke only to confirm his name and enter five not guilty pleas.
A trial date has been scheduled for 3 June, 2026.
Detectives started investigating the actor in September 2023 after receiving allegations following a joint investigation led by three British media outlets -
The Sunday Times
,
The Times
and Channel 4's
Dispatches
.
According to London's Metropolitan Police, it is alleged that one woman was raped in 1999 in Bournemouth, southern England; one woman was indecently assaulted in London's Westminster area in 2001; a woman was orally raped and sexually assaulted in Westminster in 2004; and a woman was sexually assaulted between 2004 and 2005, also in Westminster.
Brand has appeared in numerous Hollywood films and hosted radio and TV shows in the United Kingdom.
More recently, he has sought to frame himself as a social commentator and promoted conspiracy theories online, particularly on YouTube, where he has amassed almost 6.8 million subscribers.
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Russell Brand pleads not guilty to rape and sexual assault charges
Actor and comedian Russell Brand pleaded not guilty in a London court Friday to rape and sexual assault charges involving four women dating back more than 25 years. Brand, who turns 50 next week, denied two counts of rape, two counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault. He said "not guilty' after each charge was read in Southwark Crown Court. His trial was scheduled for June 3, 2026 and is expected to last four to five weeks. Prosecutors said that the offences took place between 1999 and 2005 — one in the English seaside town of Bournemouth and the other three in London. Brand didn't speak to reporters as he arrived at court wearing dark sunglasses, a suit jacket, a black collared shirt open below his chest and black jeans. In his right hand, he clutched a copy of the The Valley of Vision, a collection of Puritan prayers. ADVERTISEMENT The Get Him To The Greek actor known for risqué stand-up routines, battles with drugs and alcohol, has dropped out of the mainstream media in recent years and built a large following online with videos mixing wellness and conspiracy theories, as well as discussing religion. On a five-minute prayer video he posted Monday on social media, Brand wrote: 'Jesus, thank you for saving my life'. When the charges were announced last month, he said that he welcomed the opportunity to prove his innocence. 'I was a fool before I lived in the light of the Lord,' he said in a social media video. 'I was a drug addict, a sex addict and an imbecile. But what I never was was a rapist. I've never engaged in nonconsensual activity. I pray that you can see that by looking in my eyes.' English comedian and actor Russell Brand leaves Southwark Crown Court where he is charged with rape and sexual assault in London, Friday, May 30, 2025. (Source: Associated Press) Brand is accused of raping a woman at a hotel room in Bournemouth when she attended a 1999 Labour Party conference and met him at an event where he was performing. The woman alleged that Brand stripped while she was in the bathroom and when she returned to the room he pushed her on the bed, removed her underwear and raped her. A second woman said that Brand grabbed her forearm and attempted to drag her into a men's toilet at a television station in London in 2001. ADVERTISEMENT The third accuser was a television employee who met Brand at a birthday party in a bar in 2004, where he allegedly grabbed her breasts before pulling her into a toilet and forcing her to perform oral sex. The final accuser worked at a radio station and met Brand while he was working on a spin-off of the Big Brother reality television program between 2004 and 2005. She said Brand grabbed her by the face with both hands, pushed her against a wall and kissed her before groping her breasts and buttocks. The Associated Press doesn't name victims of alleged sexual violence, and British law protects their identity from the media for life.
