Russell Brand performance postponed after Met Police receive report of alleged sexual assault
The Metropolitan Police have received allegations of a historic sexual assault following news reports about Russell Brand.
The 48-year-old comedian and actor has been accused of rape, assault and emotional abuse between 2006 and 2013, when he was at the height of his fame working for the BBC, Channel 4 and starring in Hollywood films.
Brand has strongly denied the allegations, which also include claims of controlling, abusive and predatory behaviour.
The Met said they have now received an allegation of sexual assault in Soho, central London, in 2003.
Getty ImagesIn a short statement, the force said: “On Sunday September 17, the Met received a report of a sexual assault which was alleged to have taken place in Soho in central London in 2003.
“Officers are in contact with the woman and will be providing her with support.
“We first spoke with The Sunday Times on Saturday September 16 and have since made further approaches to The Sunday Times and Channel 4 to ensure that anyone who believes they have been the victim of a sexual offence is aware of how to report this to the police.”
A performance of Russell Brand’s Bipolarisation show due to go ahead on Tuesday at the Theatre Royal Windsor in Berkshire has been postponed.
The show’s promoters said in a statement: “We are postponing these few remaining addiction charity fundraiser shows, we don’t like doing it – but we know you’ll understand.”
He has been scheduled to perform at two more venues in September, including The Pavilions in Plymouth on Friday, and The Civic At The Halls in Wolverhampton next Thursday.
A joint investigation by The Times, the Sunday Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches includes allegations Brand assaulted one of the women when she was a 16-year-old schoolgirl and another woman has claimed that he raped her against a wall in his home in Los Angeles.
In a now deleted YouTube video, Brand can be heard joking about raping a woman during a recording of Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast in 2013.
In the clip, published by the MailOnline, he told the audience: “It’s not my extremism that I need to protect, it’s my mundanity.
“I’m just a bloke from Essex, from a single-parent family, that is a pretty comprehensive show-off.”
After a pause, Brand added: “Oh, and also I raped someone once.
“I killed her after, she’ll never tell.”
The audience can be heard laughing, while Herring shakes his head and chuckles.
Before the first allegations were published, Brand posted a video on Friday saying he has been “promiscuous” but that all of his relationships have been “consensual”.
The BBC, Channel 4 and Banijay UK, which bought Endemol, the company commissioned by Channel 4 to produce the Big Brother spin-off shows Brand hosted, have all launched investigations into his behaviour while he was working on their programmes.
Downing Street urged the broadcasters to set out the results of their investigations into Brand “transparently”.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s official spokesman called the allegations “very serious and concerning”, and said: “People should feel able to raise concerns where they have them and know they will be treated seriously and treated with sensitivity.”
He added: “The Prime Minister has been clear there should never be any space for harassment, regardless of where it is found.”
In a statement to the PA news agency Brand’s publisher, Bluebird, said that “all future publishing” with the comedian had been paused.
The imprint of Pan Macmillan has published the comedian’s titles including Recovery: Freedom From Our Addictions and Mentors: How To Help And Be Helped in recent years.
An upcoming title, Recovery: The Workbook, by the comedian, was due to be published by Bluebird in December 2025, according to the company’s website.
As Dispatches aired on Saturday, Brand performed a sold out comedy gig at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre in north-west London as part of his Russell Brand Bipolarisation tour.
