By Louis Goss
Published: 05:31 EDT, 18 September 2023 | Updated: 10:52 EDT, 18 September 2023
Danniella Westbrook sparked outrage on Monday after defending ‘kind and funny’ Russell Brand as he fights multiple allegations of rape, sexual assault and predatory behaviour, which he denies.
Westbrook was among a minority of supporters to publicly defend the father-of-two while commenting on a recent YouTube video in which he denies any wrongdoing.
Posting on Sunday, before the Dispatches expose aired at 9:00pm, she wrote: ‘Its disgusting what’s being said about you. Never in my life have I met a more helpful kind and funny person.
‘Because you speak the truth and question agendas of certain things doesn’t make you a target to be lied about . Wishing you the best we all know its lies. Sending love always mate.’
And Susanna, 52, asked her co-host if he had heard any rumblings of the former Big Brother host’s alleged behaviour – which has since been claimed was an ‘open secret’ within the industry – before the sit down.
Almost two decades ago Russell had appeared alongside Richard and his wife Judy Finnigan, 75, on their Channel 4 show promote his second memoir My Booky Wooky 2.
The allegations against Russell Brand are ‘very serious and concerning’, Downing Street said today – although No10 declined to call for the removal of the comedian’s online content.
The 48-year-old has been accused of rape, sexual assaults and emotional abuse during a seven-year period at the height of his fame.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s official spokesman said this morning: ‘These are very serious and concerning allegations.
‘The Metropolitan Police has asked anyone who believes they have been a victim of a sexual assault to come forward to speak to officers.’
A woman who claimed she was groomed by Russell Brand when she was 16 said the star’s management told him it ‘wasn’t a good look’ to date a 16-year-old girl – advising him to pretend she was his goddaughter or niece.
The woman – referred to as Alice to protect her identity – made claims she was in an ’emotionally abusive’ relationship with Brand, then 31 – adding that she ‘can’t imagine’ finding a teenager ‘sexually attractive’ now she is in her thirties.
Alice said she met Brand, then well known as a BBC radio presenter and host of Channel 4’s Big Brother’s Big Mouth, in 2006 on a shopping trip to London’s Leicester Square.
Russell Brand bragged about kissing Meghan Markle before her eventual marriage to Prince Harry – after the pair allegedly met on a Hollywood film set in 2009.
In a resurfaced clip from ITV’s Loose Women in 2018, Brand claimed he had a brief encounter with the future Duchess of Sussex just a week before she was due to be married to Prince Harry.
The pair both featured in the 2010 film Get Him To The Greek – in which Brand played a drug-addled sexually promiscuous rockstar.
Russell Brand joked about raping a woman in a video deleted from YouTube in the past 24 hours, MailOnline can exclusively reveal today.
The interview was also removed from Soundcloud as scandal engulfed the star, who vehemently denies claims he abused women.
Brand, who is famous for his acerbic, highly-sexualised and crude comedy, was speaking to Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast in 2013 where he denied being an ‘extremist’ and was in fact a ‘mundane bloke… from a single parent family’ who became a ‘pretty comprehensive show-off’.
But Herring and the audience roared with laughter when the star broke the silence and said: ‘Oh I’ve raped someone once’ and ‘killed her after’.
The actress, 43, starred as the titular Sarah Marshall in the 2008 comedy film, while Russell, 48, played her boyfriend Aldous Snow.
During press for the film, which also stars Mila Kunis and Jason Segel, in 2008, Kirsten said: ‘He didn’t try to mess with me or get in my pants. He knew I would lop his n**s off.’
The bombshell rape and abuse allegations blighting Russell Brand have made headlines far beyond British shores as international media speculate on the claims brought against the comedian, actor and political commentator.
German media have taken a particular interest in the Brand saga, with Welt penning an article questioning whether the now-prominent YouTuber is an ‘abominable predator’ – or was simply living through an ‘age of promiscuity’.
Meanwhile German tabloid Bild were eager to publish images of Brand leaving his latest gig at Wembley on Saturday hours after the allegations were made and emblazoned them with the headline: ‘Here Russell Brand sneaks away’.
No10 will not urge broadcasters and streaming platforms like YouTube and Netflix to remove Russell Brand’s content
Downing Street has declined to urge broadcasters and streaming platforms such as YouTube and Netflix to take down Russell Brand’s content.
No10 said that the broadcasters needed to make their own decisions and that the PM was not going to ‘dictate’ their actions.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘It’s a decision for all broadcasters to consider the right approach in light of these very serious allegations. They are deeply concerning, they need to be investigated.
‘But I’m not going to dictate the actions of broadcasters or streaming services.’
Culture Secretary set to speak to broadcasters about Brand investigations
Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer is expected to be speak to broadcasters about their investigations into Russell Brand at the next opportunity.
It was understood she will seek assurance that their investigations into allegations made against the comedian will be conducted thoroughly and transparently.
Government urges BBC and Channel 4 to be ‘transparent’ about Russell Brand investigation results
Downing Street has urged the BBC and Channel 4 to set out the results of their investigations into Russell Brand ‘transparently’.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘It’s right that this is looked into and I think both of the broadcasters have said they would investigate and that is the right step.
‘I’m not going to prejudge that, it will be for them to set out what they find and do so transparently.’
Downing Street says allegations against Brand ‘very serious and concerning’
Downing Street has described the sexual assault allegations against Russell
Brand as ‘very serious and concerning’.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘These are very serious and concerning allegations.
‘The Met Police has asked anyone who believes they have been a victim of a sexual assault to come forward to speak to officers.
‘As the Foreign Secretary said over the weekend, people should feel able to raise concerns where they have them and know they will be treated seriously and treated with sensitivity.
‘The Prime Minister has been clear there should never be any space for harassment, regardless of where it is found.’
Russell Brand claimed his ‘bosses enabled him to be a nutter’ at the height of his success ‘as long as they made money’ in a resurfaced interview with Lorraine Kelly.
During Monday’s episode of Lorraine, the host, 63, recounted her ‘many interviews’ with the disgraced comedian, 48, and shared a snippet from his 2017 appearance.
Lorraine interviewed the journalist behind The Times’ expose before showing the clip, in which Russell claims he was ‘enabled’ by those making money out of him.
Russell Brand’s village pub ‘goes into lockdown’ and is sealed off with security fencing in wake of rape and sexual assault scandal
Russell Brand’s village pub has ‘gone into lockdown’ as it is sealed by security fencing in the wake of his rape and sexual assault allegations.
Locals claim the hessian-coated barriers were put up around the grade-II listed pub this morning, with three security guards outside and as many as six men inside.
Brand bought the Crown Inn in Pishill, near to his plush home in Henley-on-Thames, in December 2021, where it has been temporarily closed ever since.
It comes after accusations published in The Sunday Times and on Channel 4’s Dispatches saw multiple women accusing him of abusive and predatory behaviour, including rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse, between 2006 and 2013.
Dannii Minogue labels Russell Brand a ‘vile predator’ who ‘wouldn’t take no for an answer’ in resurfaced interview
Australian popstar Dannii Minogue labelled disgraced comedian Russell Brand a ‘vile predator’ who ‘wouldn’t take no for an answer’ nearly 20 years before a bombshell exposé alleged he had assaulted multiple women throughout his life.
Brand was accused of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse by four women during the peak of his fame, following a joint investigation by the Times, the Sunday Times and Channel 4 Dispatches.
Four women told the news organisations that Brand had assaulted, abused and controlled them individually at different points of his career, allegations that Brand has denied.
But nearly 20 years before these allegations came out, Dannii Minogue seemed to be saying similar things about the comedian.
Female comedians warned one another about Russell Brand’s alleged lewd behaviour
Female comics had warned one another about Russell Brand’s lewd behaviour, with one saying it was the ‘worst kept secret in comedy’.
The industry, for decades dominated by men, is described as a ‘horrifically difficult place to be as a woman.’
Comedian Katherine Ryan told Louis Theroux last year there was an ‘open secret’ that a male comic was a predator. She told how she had confronted the man, but he had ‘very good lawyers’.
Ms Ryan, 39, also prompted a guessing game last May after discussing the presence of an abuser working in TV with fellow comedian Sara Pascoe on her Amazon Prime show Backstage With Katherine Ryan. The Canadian star said: ‘I’ve done a show with a person you and I believe is a predator.’
‘You completely broke me down’: Russell Brand accuser reveals the letter she wrote to the comedian after he allegedly raped her against a wall in his Los Angeles home
A woman who alleges she was raped by Russell Brand against a wall in his Los Angeles home wrote a letter to the comedian telling him: ‘You completely broke me down’.
The businesswoman, who The Times have called Nadia to protect her identity, told the publication she has spoken out after being enraged he has cultivated a new image as a wellness influencer when ‘I know the demon underneath.’
Nadia, who alleges Brand raped her without a condom when she went to his LA home in July 2012, said she wrote the star a letter to him after contemplating, and ultimately deciding against, criminal or civil proceedings.
More women come forward to accuse Russell Brand after sex allegations as BBC launches ‘urgent’ probe
After Russell Brand was hit with accusations of rape and sexual assault, more women have come forward with allegations about how he has treated them, it has emerged.
The Times and Sunday Times claim ‘several women’ have come forward with undisclosed allegations about Brand’s behaviour during the early 2000s in wake of their joint investigation with Channel 4 which was published on Saturday.
The latest allegations – which the newspaper says have not been investigated, but will now be ‘rigorously checked’ – follow accusations from four women, including one who claims she was sexually assaulted by Brand during a three-month relationship with him when she was 16 and still at school.
The BBC is now also facing ‘urgent questions’ after it was claimed that Brand, 48, used his company-provided car service to pick the girl up from school.
Russell Brand’s father, 80, furiously defends his son against rape and sex assault allegations
Russell Brand’s father today defended his son against claims he abused women for years, calling them ‘unproven’ and declaring: ‘Is this seriously the most important thing happening in this world?’.
Ron Brand, 80, is the man the star credits for super-charging his ‘rapacious’ sex addiction after he lost his virginity to a prostitute paid for by his father who was sleeping with two more women in a neighbouring bed in Hong Kong.
Brand Sr has today hit out at ‘unproven’ allegations about his son, and suggested that dark forces including the BBC are pursuing a ‘vendetta’ against him, as more women came forward to accuse him of abuse.
He said: ‘Is this seriously the most important thing happening in this world? Immigrants? Cost of living? 10s of thousands killed in Ukraine? Who is prioritising at BBC News. Who is really driving this vendetta?’.
He added: ‘With many struggling to pay bills. The unproven accusations of 15 years ago take lead on BBC News?’.
