In a video posted on Instagram a day before the news orgs published their reports, Brand denied the allegations stating, “Amidst this litany of astonishing, rather baroque attacks are some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute.”
He continued, “These allegations pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream, when I was in the newspapers all the time, when I was in the movies and, as I have written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous.”
“Now during that time of promiscuity the relationships I had were absolutely, always consensual. I was always transparent about that then, almost too transparent, and I am being transparent about it now as well,” he added.
Brand then suggested the allegations might be part of a coordinated effort to discredit him. “Also, it’s worth mentioning that there are witnesses who’s evidence directly contradicts the narratives that these two mainstream media outlets are trying to construct, apparently, in what seems to me to be a coordinated attack,” he said.
In the recent past, Brand has voiced his skepticism about COVID-19 vaccines and has done interviews with controversial figures like Joe Rogan.
Russell Brand rose to fame as a stand-up comedian in the U.K. He eventually landed major Hollywood roles in films like Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek. Brand was briefly married to Katy Perry from 2010 to 2011.
In light of the accuastions, a 2013 Vogue interview with Perry resurfaced on social media. “At first when I met him he wanted an equal, and I think a lot of times strong men do want an equal, but then they get that equal and they’re like, I can’t handle the equalness,” she told the magazine at the time. “He didn’t like the atmosphere of me being the boss on tour. So that was really hurtful, and it was very controlling, which was upsetting.”
She continued, “I felt a lot of responsibility for it ending, but then I found out the real truth, which I can’t necessarily disclose because I keep it locked in my safe for a rainy day. I let it go and I was like: This isn’t because of me; this is beyond me. So I have moved on from that.”
