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Appearing in British court on Friday morning, Russell Brand officially pleaded not guilty to charges of rape and assault. Accusations against the entertainer, who currently resides in the United States, first came to light in a 2023 joint investigation from The Times and Channel 4. After that, his former employers and U.K. police alike launched their own investigations. Last month, Brand was charged with one count of rape, one count of indecent assault, one count of oral rape and two counts of sexual assault stemming from incidents with different women between 1999 and 2005.
Since the allegations first came to light, the comedian-turned-guru has maintained his innocence and claimed that his sexual experiences were all consensual. “I’ve always told you guys that when I was young and single, before I had my wife and family who are just out of shot over there, my beautiful children, I was a fool, man. I was a fool before I lived in the light of the lord,” Brand said in a video posted to social media in April. “I was a drug addict, sex addict, and an imbecile. But what I never was, was a rapist. I’ve never engaged in nonconsensual activity, I pray that you can see that by looking in my eyes.” Before the report had even come out in 2023, he tried to get ahead of the story by suggesting the allegations were part of a conspiracy; at the time, he questioned if there was an “agenda at play.”
Russell Brand made a name for himself as a stand-up and comedic actor, but in recent years he’s become an alt-right media personality, Christian influencer, and friend of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Brand first appeared in court earlier this month when he was granted bail, and according to NBC News has hired lawyer Oliver Schneider-Sikorsky, who previously defended the actor Kevin Spacey in his sexual misconduct case. The trial is not set to begin until June 2026.
