Russell Brand Pleads Not Guilty to Rape, Indecent and Sexual Assault Charges in London
Russell Brand appeared at a London court on Friday after being charged with rape, and indecent and sexual assault, pleading not guilty to all five charges.
The disgraced comedian's first hearing had taken place earlier this month after it was confirmed that the U.K.'s Crown Prosecution Service had authorized the Metropolitan Police to charge a man, identified as 49-year-old Brand, following an investigation by detectives.
More from The Hollywood Reporter
Sky Doc on Flight 149 British Airways Passengers, Crew Held Hostage by Saddam Hussein Gets Trailer
'Cielo' Director on His Visceral Film About a Bolivian Girl in Search of Heaven, Aided by Female Wrestlers
Charli XCX Pitches "It Girl" 'Final Destination' Film Starring Rachel Sennott, Jenna Ortega: "Just Hot People Getting Killed"
Brand, 49, had been charged with one count of rape, one count of indecent assault, one count of oral rape, and two counts of sexual assault. The BBC reported that he pleaded not guilty to all five charges during his Friday appearance at London's Southwark Crown Court.
Brand now faces a trial that is scheduled to start on June 3, 2026.
The crimes he has been charged with relate to a 1999 rape in the Bournemouth area of the U.K.; a 2001 indecent assault of a woman in Westminster, London; the 2004 oral rape and sexual assault of a woman in Westminster, London; and between 2004 and 2005, the sexual assault of another woman in Westminster.
When the formal charges were released, Brand, who has turned to Christianity and been baptized since widespread allegations came to light, responded to the charges in a video shared on his social media, stating: 'I've never engaged in nonconsensual activity. I pray that you can see that by looking in my eyes.'
Detectives began investigating in September 2023 after receiving a number of allegations, which followed reporting by Channel 4's Dispatches and The Sunday Times. The program aired extensive allegations against Brand. One of the women told Dispatches that Brand entered a relationship with her when he was 31 and she was 16. Their relationship lasted three months, she had said, and Brand had been 'emotionally abusive and controlling.' Another claimed that Brand raped her in 2012 in his L.A. home, according to the Sunday Times.
The British celebrity denied all claims made against him, which date between 2006 and 2013, when Brand was at the height of his fame working on Big Brother's Big Mouth, Kings of Comedy and Big Brother's Celebrity Hijack. A Banijay U.K.-commissioned investigation later found informal complaints concerning Brand were made over 20 years ago on set, and another review into Brand's behavior at the BBC, in particular between 2006 and 2008 when he worked for 6 Music and Radio 2, found that fellow employees believed he 'would always get his way, and therefore stayed silent.'
Best of The Hollywood Reporter
'The Studio': 30 Famous Faces Who Play (a Version of) Themselves in the Hollywood-Based Series
22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History
A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
San Francisco Chronicle
an hour ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
An old ex-con recalls his days at Alcatraz. His biggest complaint: ‘Boredom'
There are only two people left in the world who really know what it was like to be a prisoner on Alcatraz, the legendary island in San Francisco Bay. One is Charlie Hopkins, who lives in Florida. The other is William Baker, who lives in Toledo, Ohio, and is spending the summer in San Francisco. Hopkins, a kidnapper and robber who spent three years on Alcatraz, is 93. Baker, a counterfeiter and escape artist, spent four. Baker is 92. 'As far as I know, we are the last two Alcatraz prisoners still around,' Baker says. Hopkins was interviewed on BBC in May at his home in Florida. I had lunch with Baker last week at Sam's Grill on Bush Street. Baker is spending a lot of the time these days on Alcatraz, where he appears at the bookstore on the island. He's there to sign his book — 'Alcatraz #1259,' the story of his life, which is mostly a story of 30 years behind bars. 'I guess you might say I'm a career criminal,' he writes. He's also a rarity: a survivor, a convict who managed to make crime pay. When he arrived at Alcatraz in the winter of 1957, he was a 23-year-old tough guy — 'a bad boy' with a reputation as a troublemaker, a jailhouse rioter, someone who was always trying to escape. He nearly got away more than once. Almost, not quite. 'You could see freedom,' he said of one near escape. At Alcatraz he got a job making gloves. But he learned another trade as well. This one was counterfeiting payroll checks, which he learned from Courtney Taylor, a convict who was the master of the trade. After Alcatraz, Baker spent years working with payroll checks. He made a good living, too. 'I'm the best counterfeit check casher there is,' he wrote. But technology and computers tripped him up, and he spent his post-Alcatraz years in other prisons. But then he turned to another trade he learned in prisons. He became a writer. 'I did always want to write,' he told me over lunch. He took creative writing courses at a South Dakota prison and began to write short stories. One of his stories, 'The Old Man and the Tree,' won first place in a nationwide prison writing contest. When his prison days were over and he was paroled in 2011, he wrote 'Alcatraz #1259' and sent it to the Park Service to have it approved for sale. Marcus Koenen, the supervising ranger at the time, liked it. There are lots of Alcatraz books, but Baker's has the ring of an insider, the reality of prison life. The book is a good read and a bestseller, too. Baker published it himself, and the Golden Gate Conservancy, a park service partner, handles sales. Baker is on hand three days a week to sign autographs and pose for pictures. He's living history, the Alcatraz legend in person. His book has done well. He's sold thousands of copies. 'We sold 302 on Memorial Day alone,' he said. 'Not bad.' 'I do this trip because I need the money,' he said. 'I've got a wife and a house and a dog to support. I'd sell my book on the street if I had to.' Baker is a bit gaunt. He wears thick glasses, and his hand trembles a bit. But he still has a bit of that tough kid who first landed on the Rock years ago. To celebrate a San Francisco lunch, he bought a brand new Stetson Stratoliner hat, the kind Howard Hughes liked. A new coat, too. But never mind the new clothes. We talked prison. What was the worst thing about Alcatraz? 'The boredom,' Baker said, 'Being locked up with nothing to do. The routine. Every day was the same. Not having freedom. But a writer can't write about boredom. So I wrote about people.' He wrote about Robert Stroud, the Birdman. Baker didn't know him; Stroud was in solitary. But he'd see him. Stroud was a prison hero but something else, a presence. He describes an encounter: 'What I saw in that brief moment was a dark cell with a gray shadow of a man peering out at me with bright white eyes streaked with the coal fires of hell.' Baker knew Roland Simcox, who was quiet, polite and 'a cold-blooded killer' who fatally stabbed another inmate. 'He killed him in the shower room in cold blood with a guard looking straight at him,' Baker recalled. That one stuck in Baker's memory. 'The guard threw a roll of toilet paper at him and yelled, 'Hey, break it up.'' Escape? 'Everybody talked about it all the time,' Baker said, 'but they didn't do it.' One friend of Baker's who did try was Aaron Burgett, who was involved in a prison liquor escapade and played baseball in the yard. One day on garbage detail Burgett and Clyde Johnson, another prisoner, overpowered a guard and jumped in the bay. They'd made flotation devices, but they weren't good enough. Johnson was caught and Burgett drowned. 'They found his body but his soul was long gone,' Baker wrote. Alcatraz is in the news these days. President Donald Trump is thinking of turning the island back into a prison. Is that possible? Thirty years as a prisoner made Baker guarded about prison policy. 'I don't know,' he said. 'It would be very expensive. It's crumbling, too. The last escapers used a spoon to get away. And they never came back. Besides, they already have a high-tech maximum security prison in Colorado.' They call it the Alcatraz of the Rockies and Baker described it in detail, the cells, the security, the exercise yard built like a pit where all an inmate can see is the sky. Nothing else.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Iran significantly growing uranium stockpile, warns UN nuclear agency
Iran has further stepped up its production of highly enriched uranium, according to the UN nuclear watchdog. In a confidential report seen by the BBC, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Iran now possesses over 400kg of uranium enriched to 60% purity - well above the level used for civilian purposes and close to weapons grade, and a near 50% increase in three months. It is enough for about 10 nuclear weapons if further refined, making Iran the only non nuclear-armed state producing uranium at this level. Iran has long said its programme is peaceful. But the IAEA said it could not confirm whether it remains so. Iran has produced highly enriched uranium at a rate equivalent to roughly one nuclear weapon per month over the past three months during the ongoing nuclear negotiations between Tehran and Washington. "The significantly increased production and accumulation of highly enriched uranium by Iran... is of serious concern," said IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi. Following the IAEA report, Israel on Saturday accused Iran of being "totally determined" to acquire nuclear weapons. "Such a level of enrichment exists only in countries actively pursuing nuclear weapons and has no civilian justification whatsoever," a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responded that Tehran considers nuclear weapons "unacceptable". "If the issue is nuclear weapons, yes, we too consider this type of weapon unacceptable," Araghchi, Iran's lead negotiator in the US-Iran talks, said in a televised speech. "We agree with them on this issue." What is Iran's nuclear programme and what does the US want? Iran's uranium enrichment 'worrisome' - nuclear watchdog Can Trump convince Iran to ditch its nuclear programme? US officials estimate that, if Iran chooses to pursue a weapon, it could produce weapons-grade material in less than two weeks and potentially build a bomb within months. The IAEA's latest assessment, longer and more comprehensive than usual, also details troubling findings about Iran's past nuclear work. It concluded that Tehran conducted undeclared nuclear activities at three previously unknown sites: Lavisan-Shian, Varamin and Turquzabad. Despite ongoing negotiations between Tehran and Washington over a potential new nuclear deal, the report offered no indication that Iran has slowed its enrichment efforts. Talks have been under way since April, with both sides expressing optimism but remaining divided over key issues - chief among them, whether Iran can continue enrichment under any future agreement. Iran insists its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful and has long denied accusations it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons. However, the IAEA stated that it "cannot verify" this, citing Iran's refusal to grant access to senior inspectors and its failure to answer longstanding questions about its nuclear history. In recent months, two of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's advisors - Ali Larijani and Kamal Kharazi - have suggested Iran might reconsider its long-standing position against building nuclear weapons if international pressure intensifies. Such statements have raised alarm among Western diplomats, who fear Iran is edging closer to becoming a nuclear threshold state. The IAEA board is expected to meet in the coming days to discuss next steps, amid mounting international pressure on Tehran to fully cooperate with inspections and return to compliance with nuclear non-proliferation norms. The report is likely to lead to Iran being referred to the UN Security Council, though that would probably happen at a later IAEA board meeting, diplomats told the Reuters news agency. What is Iran's nuclear programme and what does the US want? Can Trump convince Iran to ditch its nuclear programme? US to hold direct nuclear talks with Iran, Trump says
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
BBC bans journalist who said ‘Israelis are not human beings'
A Gaza reporter who was exposed after describing Jews as 'devils' has been banned by the BBC. The corporation has ordered its Arabic channel to stop using Ahmed Alagha, who was a regular contributor to its coverage of the Israeli war against Hamas. The ban came after The Telegraph revealed in April that Mr Alagha had been accused of describing Israelis as sadistic and less than human. He appeared twice on BBC Arabic after this newspaper exposed his social media comments, once just a few hours after The Telegraph's story had been published, and again on May 12. When Mr Alagha's continued appearances were brought to the BBC's attention, corporation sources stated he would no longer be used on its programmes, ordering its Arabic channel to keep him off air. It comes after continued controversy over the output of BBC Arabic, which critics have described as being biased against Israel, amid claims that several of its contributors have repeatedly made anti-Semitic comments. In May, the BBC's chairman, Dr Samir Shah, announced the broadcaster will appoint an independent figure to investigate its Arabic channel as part of a review of the standard of its reporting of the Middle East conflict. Mr Alagha, who was billed on air as a Palestinian journalist, has appeared on BBC Arabic reporting from Gaza numerous times since January last year. He has appeared to have singled out Jews for condemnation and praised the killing of Israeli civilians on his social media accounts. Responding to footage of Gaza tower blocks being bombed by Israel following the October 7 attacks, Mr Alagha posted on X, formerly Twitter, a few days later: 'This is not a Hollywood film; this is what was done to these towers in Gaza City at the hands of the Israeli occupation, and it's happening to us in Gaza. 'It [the Israeli occupation] is the embodiment of filth, the unrivalled swamp of wickedness. As for the Jews, they are the devils of the hypocrites.' The following day, he posted: 'And as we know, the 'Israelis' are not human beings to begin with, rather they are not even beasts. Perhaps they belong to a race for which no description can capture the extent of their lust and sadism.' The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (Camera), a media campaign group, has called for the BBC to crack down on its Arabic channel's use of contributors it says cannot be trusted to deliver objective and balanced broadcasting. A spokesman for Camera UK said: 'The BBC has finally done the right thing regarding Ahmad Alagha. Nevertheless, his and Afifa's stories clearly demonstrate that the process by which the BBC obtains and broadcasts Gaza Strip information is deeply flawed – with Israel's restrictions on journalists entering Gaza not being nearly as relevant as the corporation claims they are. 'BBC Arabic's editors specifically seem to be trapped inside an echo chamber. Such dehumanising statements about Jews and Israelis reflect a deep failure to meet even the most basic standards required from a journalist reporting live from Gaza; yet the editors kept using the individual who made them, even when his record was publicly known. 'This precedent, which would be unimaginable were Alagha to target any other minority group in the UK, let alone a group involved in the same conflict he purports to cover.' Danny Cohen, the former director of BBC Television said: 'It is both horrifying and astonishing that a reporter who has spouted anti-Semitism was allowed back on air after his vile racism was exposed. 'His appearing on BBC Arabic in the first place was indefensible – simple checks would have revealed his unacceptable views. 'The fact that he was allowed to return after his racism became public knowledge is further evidence of the deep-seated systemic problems of bias, extremism and antisemitism at BBC Arabic. 'BBC management needs to get a grip. If the BBC Arabic service cannot be reformed, it should be shut down.' Broadcasting sources said BBC Arabic had been instructed not to use Mr Alagha as a contributing reporter or commentator again. A BBC spokesman said: 'Ahmed Alagha is not a BBC member of staff or part of the BBC's reporting team. His social media posts do not reflect the BBC's view, and we are absolutely clear that there is no place for anti-Semitism on our services. We will not be using him as a contributor in this way again.' Mr Alagha has recently removed his X social media account. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
