Russell Brand has issued a response after being charged with rape and sexual assault earlier today (April 4).
The Metropolitan Police say the comedian and actor, 50, has also been charged with one count of oral rape and one count of indecent assault. The charges relate to four separate women, according to BBC News.
In an Instagram post with the caption “My response”, Brand responded to the charges first thanking people for their “incredible and overwhelming messages of support”, ruminating over what he expresses as “a time where there’s so little trust in the British government”.
“We’re very fortunate, I suppose, that this is happening at a time where we know that the law has become a kind of weapon to be used against people, institutions, and sometimes entire nations,” he said, “that will not accept and tolerate levels of corruption that are unprecedented.”
He then asked his British followers about how they feel about their legal system and “the high-profile cases that are not being pursued and prosecuted”, name-dropping the Southport murders and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Finally, he got to his direct response to the charges: “I was a fool before I lived in the light of the Lord. I was a drug addict, a sex addict and an imbecile, but what I never was, was a rapist,” he stated. “I’ve never engaged in non-consensual activity. I pray that you can see that by looking in my eyes.”
“I’m now going to have the opportunity to defend these charges in court, and I’m incredibly grateful for that,” he concluded.
Brand is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday, May 2 but he is believed to be in the United States.
According to BBC News, in these situations, where a suspect may be overseas, prosecutors can seek to agree to the defendant’s return. If there is no co-operation from a suspect, authorities can then consider seeking extradition.
The Metropolitan Police said that the allegations relate to an incident in 1999 when a woman was allegedly raped in the Bournemouth area, a 2001 incident in which a woman was indecently assaulted in the Westminster area of London and a 2004 case in which a woman was orally raped and sexually assaulted in the Westminster area of London.
Another incident also relates to a woman allegedly being sexually assaulted in the Westminster area of London between 2004 and 2005.
Brand has been interviewed multiple times by police since a wave of accusations against him emerged in September 2023 following an investigation by Channel 4, The Times and The Sunday Times.
The 49-year-old has previously denied the allegations and all claims of wrongdoing, calling them “very, very hurtful”. Read the full statement by the Metropolitan Police here.
This is a developing story.