Russell Brand breaks silence: Under-fire comedian faced ‘extraordinary and distressing

Russell Brand has broken his silence claiming he has faced an ‘extraordinary and distressing week’ after being accused of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse. 

Speaking in a short three minute video the under fire comedian thanked his followers for their ‘support and for questioning the information that you have been presented with’, before announcing he would be returning his show on Rumble.

Over the last week, several women have come forward to make allegations against the comedian, 48, which they claim happened at the height of his fame.

The shocking claims, said to have happened between 2003 and 2013, include the alleged rape of a woman at his home in Los Angeles in 2013 and alleged the sexual assault of a 16-year-old schoolgirl. 

Brand denied the accusations claiming any relationship he had was consensual and has remained silent since The Sunday Times and Channel 4‘s Dispatches first reported the allegations of predatory and abusive behaviour on Saturday.

In the past week, more women have come forward with accusations while the Metropolitan Police have launched an investigation into an alleged sexual assault in Soho in 2003.

The scandal has seen Brand’s PR firm MBC PR and talent agency Tavistock Wood remove him from their websites, while his publisher Bluebird suspended their relationship with the comic.  

Russell Brand has broken his silence claiming he has faced an ‘extraordinary and distressing week’ after being accused of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse

In a short video he said: ‘Hello there you awakening wonders, obviously it’s been an extraordinary and distressing week and I thank you very much for your support and for questioning the information that you have been presented with. 

‘By now, you’re probably aware that the British government has asked big tech platforms to censor our online content and that some online platforms have complied with that request.

‘What you may not know is that this happens in the context of the online safety bill which is a piece of UK legislation that grants sweeping surveillance and censorship powers and it’s a law that’s already been passed.’

He added: ‘I also don’t imagine that you’ve heard of the trusted news initiative and now, as often is the case when a word like trusted is used as part of an acronym to describe an unelected body, trust is the last thing you should be offering.

‘The trusted news initiative is a collaboration between big tech and legacy media organisations to target, patrol, choke and shut down independent media organisations, like this one.’

More follows.