Russell Brand last night went ahead with a planned gig at Wembley Park Theatre despite a Sunday Times report accusing him of rape, sexual assault and abuse by four women. Brand was on stage during the Dispatches documentary on Channel 4 airing the same allegations.
The allegations were published on Saturday (September 16) afternoon, and include the claim one of the alleged victims was aged 16.
According to the broadsheet newspaper, four people have claimed the actor attacked them between 2006 and 2013.
Russell Brand denies the allegations
In the early hours of Saturday morning, the 48-year-old uploaded a YouTube video and denied a “litany” of allegations he said were from mainstream media outlets.
And last night (Saturday September 16) he took to the stage to perform a gig as planned.
He was reportedly met by cheers from the crowds and Rebel Rebel by David Bowie was one of the songs playing before the show.
According to The Sun Brand told the crowd: “I really appreciate your support. I love you.
“I want to do a fantastic show for you. I’ve got a lot of things to talk to you about.
“There are obviously some things that I absolutely cannot talk about – and I appreciate that you will understand.”
Brand was said to be late to the gig, after getting stuck in traffic, but fans were assured he was going to turn up and was “looking forward” to it.
Accusations against Russell Brand
The reported accusations against Brand come from several woman accusing him of rape, sexual assault and emotional and physical abuse. The incidents allegedly took place at the height of his fame when Brand himself confessed he was “very promiscuous”.
According to reports, the first woman claimed Brand raped her up against a wall at his home in Los Angeles.
A second reportedly alleged he forced her, when she was aged 16, to perform oral sex. It is claimed he was 31 at the time. She says she punched him in the stomach to make him stop.
A third alleged victim claims to have worked with the comedian. She is said to claim he sexually assaulted her before threatening legal action if she spoke out.
And a fourth woman has reportedly accused him of sexually assaulting her, as well as being emotionally and physically abusive.
Russell Brand speaks out
The comedian was quick to refute all of these claims in a YouTube video. He insisted his relationships were always consensual.
He said: “I’ve received two extremely disturbing letters. One from a mainstream media TV company listing a litany of extremely egregious and aggressive attacks.”
The married personality, who is a father of two with wife Laura, went on: “Amidst this litany of astonishing, rather baroque attacks, are some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute.”
He added: “These pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream. When I was in the newspapers all the time, when I was in the movies. And as I’ve written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous.
“During that time of promiscuity, the relationships I had were absolutely always consensual. I was always transparent about that then, almost too transparent, and I’m being transparent about it now.
“And to see that transparency metastasised into something criminal that I absolutely deny makes me question, is there another agenda at play?”
Although he didn’t identify either of the news outlets said to be involved, the Sunday Times published the article later that afternoon. Channel 4 then aired its Dispatches special called Russell Brand: In Plain Sight.
Read more: Russell Brand accused of rape and sexual assault
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