Sexual assault allegation against Russell Brand received by British police in wake of media reports

LONDON (AP) — British police said Monday that they had received a sexual assault allegation against Russell Brand after several women made claims against him in the media. The remaining dates in the comedian’s string of live shows have been postponed, despite his denial of the allegations.

A talent agency and a publisher also parted ways with Brand over the allegations, which have raised questions about whether the comedian’s bad behavior went unnoticed because of his celebrity.

Brand, 48, denies sexual assault allegations made by four women in a Channel 4 television documentary, as well as in The Times and Sunday Times newspapers. One of the unnamed accusers claims she was sexually assaulted by him when she was 16 years old during a relationship with him. Another woman claims Brand raped her in 2012 in Los Angeles.

Since the allegations were made public, the Metropolitan Police force in London has received “a report of a sexual assault which was alleged to have taken place in Soho in central London in 2003.” That is three years before the first alleged assaults reported in the media.

RELATED: Did the Russell Brand and Mila Kunis sagas ruin this beloved 2008 comedy?

According to the police, “officers are in contact with the woman and will be providing her with support.” It did not name the alleged perpetrator as Brand, but it did refer to the newspaper and television reports in its statement. Police urged “anyone who believes they may have been a victim of a sexual offence, no matter how long ago it was, to contact us.”

Brand stated in a video statement released on Friday in response to the media claims that his relationships were “always consensual.”

The New York Times reported on Monday that more women had contacted the paper with allegations against Brand, and that they would be “rigorously checked.”

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s spokesman, Max Blain, called the allegations “very serious and concerning.” Caroline Nokes, the Conservative legislator who chairs the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee, has urged police in both the United Kingdom and the United States to investigate the “incredibly shocking” allegations.

“This merits and requires a criminal investigation because for far too long we have seen men — and the perpetrators of these types of crimes are almost always men — not being held accountable for their behaviors and actions,” she said on BBC radio.

The allegations have reignited debate about the “lad culture” that flourished in the United Kingdom in the 1990s and early 2000s, as well as the misogyny that still exists on the internet.

The allegations made public by newspapers and Channel 4 span the years 2006 to 2013, when Brand was a major star in the United Kingdom with a growing profile in the United States.

He was known for his raunchy stand-up routines, and he hosted radio and television shows, wrote memoirs about his battles with drugs and alcohol, appeared in several Hollywood films, and was briefly married to pop star Katy Perry between 2010 and 2012.

The BBC suspended Brand in 2008 after he made lewd prank calls to “Fawlty Towers” actor Andrew Sachs, boasting about having sex with Sachs’ granddaughter. Following the incident, which drew thousands of complaints to the publicly funded broadcaster, he resigned from his radio show.

The BBC, Channel 4, and the production company behind the “Big Brother” reality series — spinoffs of which Brand hosted — all say they are investigating Brand’s behavior and how complaints were handled.

Tavistock Wood, a talent agency, also dropped Brand after being “horribly misled” by him. Bluebird, a Pan Macmillan imprint, announced that it had decided to “pause” future publishing with Brand.

Brand supporters questioned why the allegations were made years after the alleged incidents. The women said they felt ready to tell their stories only after being approached by reporters, with some citing Brand’s newfound fame as an online wellness influencer as a factor in their decision to speak.

Victims and the media must also consider Britain’s claimant-friendly libel laws, which place the burden of proof on those who make allegations.

Brand has largely vanished from mainstream media in recent years, but he has amassed a sizable online following with videos that mix wellness and conspiracy theories. His YouTube channel, which has over 6 million subscribers, has featured conspiracy theories about COVID-19, vaccine misinformation, and interviews with controversial broadcasters such as Tucker Carlson and Joe Rogan.

He has also continued to tour as a comedian, performing in front of hundreds of people in a London venue on Saturday evening, just before the Channel 4 documentary aired. He was scheduled to perform in Windsor, west of London, on Tuesday, but promoters announced that the rest of the tour would be canceled.

Ellie Tomsett, a senior lecturer in media and communications at Birmingham City University who studies the British stand-up circuit, said Brand was a product of a misogynistic live comedy scene that still exists today, despite efforts by women and others to diversify the comic landscape.

“When there has been a rise in popular feminism… there has also been a rise in popular misogyny, epitomized by the likes of (social media influencer) Andrew Tate — but evident in all aspects of society, and definitely reflected on the U.K. comedy circuit,” she says. Tomsett stated

“More and more things are springing up to try to counter this, but the idea that it’s something that happened in the past and doesn’t happen anymore is, quite frankly, nonsense,” she added.