‘What I Never Was, Was a Rapist’

Russell Brand is facing serious charges brought by the Metropolitan Police in the U.K., which he strongly denies.

On April 4, the police announced in a news release that Brand has been charged with one count of rape, one count of indecent assault, one count of oral rape, and two counts of sexual assault. 

Brand took to X to deny the charges, telling followers, “I’ve always told you guys that when I was young and single, before I had my wife and family… I was a fool, man, before I lived in the light of the lord. I was a drug addict, a sex addict and an imbecile. What I never was, was a rapist. I’ve never engaged in nonconsensual activity, I pray that you can see that looking into my eyes.”

He added, “Of course, I’m now going to have the opportunity to defend these charges in court and I’m incredibly grateful for that… we will be continuing to discuss this matter.”

Police began their investigation in 2023 after a joint investigation by Channel 4’s “Dispatches” and The Sunday Times. The news outlets accused Brand of rape, sexual assault, and both physical and emotional abuse, all of which he vehemently denied.

The new incidents, which are alleged to have taken place between 1999-2005, involve four women.

Brand is accused of raping a woman in 1999, indecently assaulting a woman in 2001, orally raping and sexually assaulting a woman in 2004, and sexually assaulting a woman between 2004 and 2005.

Brand will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday, May 2, 2025.

Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy, of the Metropolitan Police, said in a statement, “The women who have made reports continue to receive support from specially trained officers.”

He added, “The Met’s investigation remains open and detectives ask anyone who has been affected by this case, or anyone who has any information, to come forward and speak with police.”

According to People magazine, when The Sunday Times and Channel 4’s “Dispatches” investigated Brand in 2023, their reporting involved five victims and crimes that allegedly took place between 2006-2013.

At the time, Russell released a video on Instagram addressing the “serious allegations that I absolutely refute.”

In the September 2023 post, he said, “These allegations pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream, I was in the newspapers all the time, when I was in the movies… as I’ve written about extensively in my books I was very, very promiscuous… during that time of promiscuity the relationships I had were always consensual.”

He went on, “I was always transparent about that then — almost too transparent. And I’m being transparent about it now as well. And to see that transparency metastasized into something criminal, that I absolutely deny.”