Russell Brand facing more complaints after BBC investigation

A BBC investigation into Russell Brand’s behavior when he was a BBC Radio host in 2006-2008 has unearthed five complaints of misconduct, two of them new.

(James Manning / Associated Press)

By Emily St. MartinStaff Writer

Nov. 14, 2023 3:45 PM PT

More people have come forward with complaints about Russell Brand’s behavior in the workplace.

Five people complained about how Brand behaved while he was hosting BBC Radio shows from 2006 to 2008, the BBC said Tuesday in releasing preliminary results of an investigation into his track record over that time period.

Two of the people spoke out only in the past two months, after the BBC probe began. Two other complaints had been made between 2006 and 2008, and one — an allegation that Brand exposed himself to a woman in a BBC office in L.A. — was lodged in 2019.

Peter Johnston, the BBC’s director of editorial complaints, did not specify the nature of the latest two allegations, but the BBC website reported that they are “understood to relate to his workplace conduct, and are not of a serious sexual nature.”

The broadcaster was sharing an update to its investigation after sexual abuse and rape claims against Brand went public in September. In a joint investigation published by the Times of London and the British news program “Dispatches,” numerous women alleged that they had been sexually assaulted by Brand between 2006 and 2013, during which time he rose from eccentric British TV personality to bad-boy Hollywood actor with starring roles in the films “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” “Get Him to the Greek” and the “Arthur” reboot.

Representatives for Brand did not respond immediately Tuesday to the Los Angeles Times’ request for comment. The performer previously denied all allegations of sexual assault.

One woman whose story was among those published in September alleged that Brand had sexually assaulted her during a relationship they had when she was 16 and he was in his 30s. While she said he sent a BBC car for her when she was at school, the BBC said Tuesday that it no longer had records of car bookings from the period in question.

Another woman alleged in September that Brand had pinned her against a wall at his Los Angeles home in 2012 and raped her. A third woman, who met Brand in Alcoholics Anonymous and later worked with him, said he sexually assaulted her at his West Hollywood property before a group meeting in 2013.

Meanwhile, the BBC said its investigation is ongoing.

“Although my work is in no way complete and therefore I cannot yet reach any conclusions, it would appear that no disciplinary action was taken against Russell Brand during his engagement with the BBC in 2006-8 prior to his departure from the BBC,” Johnston said.

Two U.K. police forces, the Metropolitan Police and Thames Valley Police, launched investigations of Brand after the Times of London-”Dispatches” allegations against him went public.

Brand, 48, preemptively addressed the initial allegations in a YouTube video, saying that he denied the “very, very serious criminal allegations” about to come out against him. The comic, who has rebranded himself as an anti-establishment commentator, said he was being targeted by the “mainstream media” because of his views. (The Times of London is owned by Rupert Murdoch.)

“The relationships I had were absolutely, always consensual. I was always transparent about that then. Almost too transparent, and I’m being transparent now,” he said in the video. “To see that transparency metastasized into something criminal that I absolutely deny, makes me question: Is there another agenda at play?”

Earlier this month, Brand was also accused of sexual assault by an actor who worked as an extra on the set of the 2011 film “Arthur.”

The court document, obtained by Insider, was filed by a woman under the name “Jane Doe” in Suffolk County, N.Y. In the affidavit, the woman alleged that Brand sexually assaulted her while he “appeared intoxicated, smelled of alcohol and was carrying a bottle of vodka on set.”

She added that Brand also exposed his penis to her in full view of the “Arthur” cast and crew, which included people employed by Warner Bros. The accuser alleged that the assault happened on July 7, 2010, in a bathroom on set while a member of the production crew “guarded the door from the outside.”

Times’ staff writers Meredith Blake and Carlos De Loera and the Associated Press contributed to this report.