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The BBC has said it is “urgently looking into the issues raised” by the publication of allegations of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse against Russell Brand.
The Sunday Times published allegations this weekend that Brand had sexually assaulted four women after a years-long investigation into claims about his behaviour in collaboration with Channel 4’s Dispatches.
Brand has denied the claims made against him by the women.
The allegations date from 2006 to 2013, the height of Brand’s fame, when the comedian was working for BBC Radio 2 and Channel 4 as well as starring in Hollywood films.
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A BBC spokesperson said in a statement that the reports “contained serious allegations, spanning a number of years ... Russell Brand worked on BBC Radio programmes between 2006 and 2008 and we are urgently looking into the issues raised.”
The Metropolitan police said it had not received any reports in relation to the allegations, but had spoken to the Sunday Times and would be making further approaches to “ensure that any victims of crime who they have spoken with are aware of how they may report any criminal allegations to police”.
Amnesty International has urged women to come forward if they have any concerns about the behaviour of Brand during his participation in two of the charity’s standup comedy events in 2006 and 2012.
It follows the announcement by a charity that supports vulnerable women recovering from addiction that it would sever its links with Brand. The Trevi women and children’s charity said it had ended its association with Brand and his charitable fund, the Stay Free Foundation.
The 48-year-old, who has lately recast himself as a health guru, is in the middle of a national standup comedy tour. He is due to appear in Windsor, Wolverhampton and Plymouth in the coming days, but there have been calls online for the venues to cancel the shows.
A production company that says it received complaints about Brand’s behaviour while he was presenting shows for them has also opened an “urgent” internal investigation into the allegations.
A researcher claimed that concerns about Brand’s behaviour while he worked on Big Brother spin-off shows in 2004 and 2005 were reported to production managers at Endemol, the company that produced the programmes.
Banjay UK, which bought Endemol in 2020, said that in light of the “very serious allegations”, it had “launched an urgent internal investigation and will co-operate with any requests for information from broadcast partners and external agencies ... We also encourage anybody who feels that they were affected by Brand’s behaviour while working on these productions to contact us in confidence.”
[ Russell Brand: In Plain Sight review – shocking, ghastly exposé of a litany of alleged sex attacks ]
The allegations published on Saturday included the claim that Brand entered into a relationship with a schoolgirl when she was 16 and he was 31. She reportedly said he referred to her as “the child” during an alleged emotionally abusive and controlling three-month relationship.
Another woman alleged that Brand raped her in 2012 in his Los Angeles home, according to reporting in the Sunday Times, which said she received treatment at a rape crisis centre the same day.
In a video statement posted online in advance of the publication of the claims, Brand claimed he was facing a “litany of extremely egregious and aggressive attacks”.
He continued: “These allegations 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 have written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous.
“Now, 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 am being transparent about it now as well.
“To see that transparency metastasised into something criminal, that I absolutely deny, makes me question is there another agenda at play.”
Brand has been contacted for comment. – Guardian