Russell Brand has said he is “incredibly grateful” that his day in court is coming after being charged with rape and sexual assault by UK authorities.
The one-time Forgetting Sarah Marshall star said he was a “drug addict, sex addict and an imbecile” during his youth, but he was never a rapist.
“I’ve never engaged in non-consensual activity. I pray that you can see that by looking in my eyes,” he told his social media followers on Friday in a short video while wearing a straw hat.
It follows London’s Metropolitan Police charging Brand with one count of rape, one count of indecent assault, one count of oral rape, and two counts of sexual assault. The charges relate to four separate women between 1999 and 2005. He has been summoned to Westminster Magistrates’ Court on May 2.
He has consistently denied wrongdoing, describing the original sexual assault allegations as “baroque attacks” after they were reported by The Times, The Sunday Times, and Channel 4 News in 2023.
Brand lashed out at British authorities for bringing the charges. “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,” he said.
“I’m now gonna have the opportunity to defend these charges in court, and I’m incredibly grateful for that. In the meantime, you lot stay free,” he added.
This statement appears to suggest that he is willing to cooperate with the legal proceedings. Brand has moved from Oxfordshire to Florida, sparking concerns that he may need to be extradited to face trial.
To compel Brand to return home, the UK government’s Home Office would need to make an extradition request to U.S. authorities. When Deadline phoned the Home Office to ask whether it would issue such a request, the department referred us to the Crown Prosecution Service. The CPS said it would not comment on its position regarding extraditing Brand.
Such a process could be politically awkward for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, given that Brand has established himself as an influential member of the MAGA manosphere. As Media Matters detailed last month, Brand has 22.5M followers on social media, meaning he only sits behind Joe Rogan, Ben Shapiro, and Jordan Peterson in the right-wing ecosystem.
The comedian, presenter, and movie star has reinvented himself as a Christian convert who evangelizes about free speech and free thinking. He called on American voters to back Trump “if you care about freedom” last November and was seen at the inauguration in January.
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