Russell Brand name begs innocent to rape, sexual offense costs in U.K.: NPR

LONDON– Gripping a Puritan prayerbook, star and comic Russell Brand name strolled right into a London court room Friday putting on an undone black t-shirt with several crucifixes around his neck and duplicated words “innocent” for every of the 5 matters of rape and attack he’s been billed with.

This was a pre-trial hearing at London’s Southwark Crown Court. Brand name’s test is set up for June 2026. He continues to be out on bond till after that. He resides in Florida and is called for to maintain the court notified of any kind of address adjustments.

A current transform to Christianity, Brand name has actually leaned right into his confidence in rejecting costs that go back greater than 25 years, entailing 4 ladies that charge him of assaulting them in different cases that started early in his profession as a comic, radio host, MTV support and truth television celebrity. He transforms 50 following week.

Among the ladies states she satisfied Brand name at a 1999 seminar for the center-left Work Celebration in the English seaside community of Bournemouth, and affirms that he raped her in a close-by resort space. An additional states Brand name got her lower arm and attempted to drag her right into a males’s washroom at a London television terminal in 2001. A 3rd accuser states he got her busts, drew her right into a restroom in a London bar in 2004, and compelled her to do foreplay. The 4th lady states she satisfied Brand name while he was dealing with an offshoot of the Huge Bro truth television collection in between 2004 and 2005, which he pressed her versus a wall surface, searched and kissed her.

Brand name rejects any kind of misbehavior with every one of them.

On Friday, he did not talk to press reporters as they screamed ask for remark. Brand name strolled past them putting on all black, with a sports jacket over a pinstriped t-shirt undid to his navel, a number of lockets and dark sunglasses. He went away right into a black Mercedes after the 10-minute hearing.

In a video clip published to social networks April 4, the day he was billed, Brand name confesses to being what he calls a “sex addict” prior to accepting Christianity, however rejects any kind of misbehavior and states the “regulation has actually ended up being a tool” made use of versus individuals that slam corruption.

” I was a fool prior to I resided in the light of the lord. I was a druggie, a sex addict and an imbecile,” he states in the video clip “Yet what I never ever was, was a rapist. I have actually never ever taken part in nonconsensual task.”

Brand name’s papa rested behind him Friday in court. The accused was flanked by attorney Oliver Schneider-Sikorsky, that likewise protected star Kevin Spacey versus sex attack claims in 2023.

In the very early 2000s, Brand name was a climbing celebrity in the UK’s funny and media scene, helping the BBC and MTV. His standing rose after holding the television program Huge Bro’s Big Mouth, an offshoot of the prominent truth program Huge Bro He progressed recognized in the united state after acting in the funny flicks Neglecting Sarah Marshall and Obtain Him to the Greek

Ever Since, he’s ended up being extra popular as a web analyst and expert. In between his YouTube and Rumble networks, his video clips slamming globalism, the mainstream media and injections have actually assisted him obtain numerous customers.

In current months, Brand name has actually required to social networks to proclaim his conversion to Christianity. In the runup to the 2024 governmental political election, he signed up with conservative analyst Tucker Carlson for an occasion in the battlefield state of Arizona. There, he liquidated the procedures on his knees in petition versus what he called “the dark and demonic pressures” of the deep state.

NPR’s Andrew Limbong added previous coverage.