Russell Brand shared an impassioned video to his YouTube Channel in which he denied unspecified “serious allegations” on Friday. The allegations came to light on Saturday, when four women accused the comedian and YouTuber sexual assault between 2006 and 2013 through an investigation by Britain’s Channel 4 and newspapers The Times and The Sunday Times.
The allegations also include that Brand exhibited “controlling, abusive and predatory behavior,” according to the Times.
In Brand’s clip, which you can watch above, he said he’s received letters from two media outlets alleging “a litany of extremely egregious and aggressive attacks.”
“But amidst this litany of astonishing rather baroque attacks, [there are] often very serious allegations that I absolutely refute,” the comedian told his followers.
He did not get into specifics but did reference being “promiscuous” in the past and insisted in the video that all his relationships have been consensual.
“As I’ve written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous,” he said. “Now, during that time of promiscuity, the relationships I had were absolutely always consensual.”
Medical records show that one of the women was treated at a rape crisis center on the same day that she was allegedly raped by Brand in his Los Angeles home. She also provided text messages telling Brand that she had been scared by him and felt taken advantage of.
One of the texts reads, “When a girl say[s] NO it means no,” according to the Times. Brand apparently replied, writing that he was “very sorry.”
“I don’t mind them using my books and my standup to talk about my promiscuous consensual conduct in the past,” Brand said in his video. “What I seriously refute are these very, very serious criminal allegations. Also, it’s worth mentioning that there are witnesses whose evidence directly contradicts the narrative that these two mainstream media outlets are trying to construct, apparently, in what seems to me to be a coordinated attack.”
One of the women was just 16 years old at the time of her alleged assault. She told the Times that Brand referred to her as “the child” during their three-month relationship, which she described as emotionally abusive and controlling. The woman said that Brand had at one time “forced his penis down her throat” and that she tried pushing him off, punching him in the stomach to get him to stop.
The comedian and actor, whose films include “Get Him to the Greek” and “Death on the Nile,” said that he sees “another agenda at play,” in the allegations, comparing it to the “coordinated media attacks” on other people who promote vaccine conspiracy theories like U.S. podcaster Joe Rogan.
He went on to say, “I’m aware that you guys have been saying in the comments for a while, ‘Watch out, Russell. They’re coming from you.’ … It’s been clear to me, or at least it feels to me like there’s a serious and concerted agenda to control these kind of spaces and these kind of voices. And I mean, my voice along with your voice.”
On Friday, a different British outlet, The Express, wrote about a previous scandal involving Brand, which they refer to as “Sachsgate.” In 2008, Brand and BBC One broadcaster Jonathan Ross made a vulgar prank call to “Fawlty Towers” star Manuel Sachs in which Brand claimed to have slept with Sachs’ granddaughter, Georgina Baillie.
This story has been updated to detail the allegations that surfaced on Saturday, Sept. 16.
