Russell Brand’s frantic fast-talking comedy never really appealed to me, but he seems to have found a new audience in the past several years as a fast-talking conspiracy theorist on a podcast I’ve never listened to. Braying out loud weird claims just doesn’t appeal, but OK, he’s successfully tapping into a revenue stream that exists.
Except now he’s got criminal charges hanging over his head, being accused of rape and sexual assault. It’s all so predictable: volatile personality gets rich, acquires lots of privilege, uses it to treat other people like things. How will he get out of it? By talking fast, of course.
Brand had already moved to deny what he called “very serious criminal allegations” on Friday night. In a video posted online, he said he had received correspondence from a media company and a newspaper detailing the claims; this is standard practice for journalists preparing to report serious allegations about a named entity.
He issued his denial in a video posted across his accounts on several media platforms, insisting his relationships had always been consensual.
He portrayed the reports as a “litany of extremely egregious and aggressive attacks” and said they pertained to a period of his career when he was working “in the mainstream … As I have written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous [at that time].”
Brand continued: “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?”
Somebody explain to him that promiscuity is one thing, but rape is a completely different other thing. You do not get criminally charged for consensual promiscuity.
At least he knows that “consent” is a useful word to deploy when your behavior is brought to light, but I don’t think he grasps what that is, either.
According to the paper’s report, one of the women said Brand entered into a relationship with her while he was 31 and she was still a 16-year-old schoolgirl. She reportedly said he referred to her as “the child” during an alleged emotionally abusive and controlling three-month relationship.
She told Dispatches the presenter once “forced his penis down her throat”, making her choke, which led her to punch him in the stomach to make him stop.
I think we can reject his version of consent when the words “16-year-old schoolgirl” enter the picture.
He has at least dug up the formula that will keep his gullible audience in thrall: it’s a paranoid conspiracy, they’re all out to get me. It’s true, a lot of people will be out to get you if you commit reprehensible crimes.
No charges yet, but we may live in hope….
After the Swedish Academy imploded a few years back -as the husband of a member got arrested after years of similar crimes that mr.Brand is accused of-, there absolutely nothing that can surprise me.
.
Consent: the mother of a significant religious figure was probably 14-15 when giving a miraculous birth.
And a very famous prophet is documented as starting to bang a child bride when she was nine.
Completely predictable.
.1. Elon Musk.
His breeding project to produce more Elon Musks is now up to 10 children from 3 different women. I doubt the women are anything more to him than breeding stock.
His oldest child has already disowned him and changed her name.
.2. Most or all of the oligarches.
It isn’t necessary, but a billion dollars makes people feel entitled.
.3. Lauren Boebert.
“Do you know who I am?
Yes, unfortunately we do. And, you are not who you think you are.
.4. Donald Trump. The GOP.
These are obvious.
.5. Vladimir Putin and the Russian ruling classes.
The Russian male population are disposable soldiers to be used in human wave attacks against Ukraine, and they might collect the bodies if it isn’t too much trouble.
The Ukrainians of course, are 44 million people in the way of Putin’s dream of imperial reconquest to put the USSR back together. Because the USSR worked so well the first time.
You don’t have to be a volatile personality or even have all that much money, to feel entitled, and treat people like things.
OT
Unpleasant people.
On this day 83 years ago an art school reject cancelled operation sealion. Don’t say cancel culture is bad.
Räven @ 3
Melon Tusk is accusing that rich Jewish feller of wanting to ruin western civilisation.
@birgerjohansson #2
“And a very famous prophet is documented as starting to bang a child bride when she was nine.”
I heard he married her when she was somewhere between six and nine, but waited with the banging until she was eleven.
This child bride by the way led an army against the prophet’s son-in-law.
Harvey Weinsten and Danny Masterson are probably kicking themselves for not starting their own conspiracy-centered, bullshit-spouting podcast right about now.
Which, oddly enough, a lot of the right-wing chuds who support Brand want.
You do not get criminally charged for consensual promiscuity.
Yet.
A major political party has a plan to straighten everybody out that way.
I had never heard of Russell Brand.
I wish I hadn’t heard of him. He is now a generic right wingnut loon.
Cthulhu, this is the full tentacle embrace of death.
Elon Musk likes him.
Brand is an antivaxxer and Covid-19 virus denier. He doesn’t deny the virus exists but claims it isn’t dangerous.
1.4 million Americans would disagree except…that they are long dead and 6 feet underground.
Russell Brand supports Russia and hates Ukraine.
No surprise but it should be.
Why are people supporting genocides in the 21st century?
Right wingnuts are just a package deal.
It doesn’t change how skeevy and inappropriate that relationship was, especially given the age gap, and the specific act described absolutely did not have consent, but FWIW the age of consent in the UK is 16.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ages_of_consent_in_Europe#United_Kingdom_and_Crown_dependencies
You know, something about that guy felt “off”, kinda like how I felt about Woody Allen…
Just saying.
And Brand wields the word “transparent” as if it had some exculpatory value.
I wonder what he thinks it means, or maybe he is just tossing out a word salad, something like:
Squirrel!
Autobot: I agree — though for me at least, a lot of it is because I never liked any of the characters I’ve seen him play. He just has a really obnoxious and unpleasant persona, and hearing this latest news about him makes me think it’s at least a large part of his real personality.
And Brand wields the word “transparent” as if it had some exculpatory value.
Maybe he thinks it does: like “I’ve never made a secret of what kind of person I am, so you can’t start attacking me over it now!”
I’ve always found him to be a pretensive idiot. An observation confirm when he declared people shouldn’t vote and then back flipped when he came under criticism. I hope he’s charged and prosecuted, but he’ll probably get off and make a ton of money fundraising his legal expenses.
Of course the usual
cockroachessuspects have come out in force to support him.He has a gleam in his eyes that I just don’t trust. The last guy I saw with bug-eyes like his was Gowron, Chancellor of the Klingon Empire.
Another woman has now come forward to raise more allegations of sexual assault by Russell brand :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-19/russell-brand-accused-of-sexual-assault-by-another-woman/102875192
Also :
Source : https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/youtube-suspends-russell-brand-making-money-off-streaming-103300965
Aussie ABC news also has this article here :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-19/russell-brand-analysis-why-cancelling-him-could-be-complicated/102872102
WARNING : Bad taste jokes included in article
Then there wa sthe whole Saville case earlier..
“picked her up from secondary school” is kind of a clue. Hands off the high school kids, men.
I guess that I’m weird. I’m now 61 years old and have absolutely no interest in a woman under 40, with that cutoff being iffy in my book.
But then, my kids are pushing on 45 and well, that whole yucky incest age thing just doesn’t push anything beyond my emesis button.
Unsurprising that the accusations against Brand are being used to attack the BBC, which broke links to him in 2008, after he and fellow creep Jonathan Ross left a series of highly unpleasant and obscene answerphone messages for the elderly actor Andrew Sachs (“Manuel” in Fawlty Towers), in which they betrayed the trust of a relative of Sachs with whom Brand had had a brief relationship. Bizarrely, these calls were broadcast, leading to a huge number of complaints. Ross escaped with a 12-week suspension, so presumably the investigation (carried out by current BBC Director-General Tim Davie) concluded Brand was the main culprit.
Stories alleging BBC largesse and misdeeds never mention the word “taxi”. It’s always a chauffeur-driven car.
Nope. It’s a taxi.
From basic to fancy, Brits call them all taxis. And if it can use a bus lane, then it’s a black cab taxi.
I have no time for Brand and the rumours about him have been circulating for decades. There are hundreds of people who could have stopped him and didn’t.
Point of order though: 16 is the age of consent in the UK.
I started being suspicious of Brand after a comedy bit involving a school “prank” called “seagulling”, which is basically sexual assault with semen.
In the bit Brand thought the “prank” made no sense because, and then he transitioned into some kind of story about painful angst and fear (and more) connected to ejaculation. I’ve mentioned that I just tend to see what people are making themselves feel better about in humor right?
@23. Schnitzel Von Knobbschafft : “Point of order though: 16 is the age of consent in the UK.”
That’s true but does NOT make it okay for a much older person to have sex with a teenager.
Two 16 year olds have sex? No worries.
A 31 year old and 16 year old esp when the 31 year old is famous and influential and all Brand was vs a 16 year old school kid. NO. Just no. Not okay.
The On Brand Podcast did a 2hr45min deep dive into the sexual assault and rape allegations against Brand this week and it is deeply disturbing. I mean, the podcast exists to document the ways he is a shitty person, but that episode was something else. I had to take breaks from it. He has been doing this a long time, and a lot of people knew and tolerated, or worse, encouraged his terrible behavior.
About the On Brand Pod: Al and Lauren are fans of the Knowledge Fight podcast and decided to give Brand the same treatment that Dan and Jordan give Alex Jones. Long story short, there are no redeeming qualities to Russell Brand. Worth a listen!
Hopefully intresting albiet maybe morbidly so article and analysis here :
Oh and also from that :
Source : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-23/russell-brand-social-media-sermons-of-controversy-and-clicks/102881700
Maybe these sort of things should be more open and less secret in future? Of course that’s yet another area where the legal system is an obstacle to actual Justice and stopping sexual assualters and rapists..
Late in the thread now but still – Aussie ABC’s Media Watch show had thsi segment on Brand last night :
WARNING : Some disturbing footage of on-camera groping.
Source : https://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/episodes/brand/102898760