Russell Brand: U.K. Police Receive New Sexual Assault Allegation Tied to Report

Police in london received a report of sexual assault tied to the allegations made against Russell Brand in the media over the weekend. 

In a statement shared with Rolling Stone, the Metropolitan Police said: “On Sunday, 17 September, 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.”

Brand was not named in the police report, and it is standard practice for the Met Police to not name people who may or may not be subjects of an investigation. The statement did, however, refer to recent reporting in The Times UK and Channel 4’s investigative show Dispatches, which is where the allegations against Brand first appeared.

The Met Police added: “We first spoke with The Sunday Times on Saturday, 16 September 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. We continue to encourage anyone who believes they may have been a victim of a sexual offence, no matter how long ago it was, to contact us.”

In the joint report, four women — including one who was just 16 at the time — accused Brand of sexual assault and rape. Notably, the new report filed with the police involves an alleged incident from 2003, while the accusations in The Times UK/Channel 4 reports spanned 2006 to 2013.  

A rep for Brand did not immediately return Rolling Stone’s request for comment regarding the report filed with the Met Police. Brand did, however, preemptively deny the allegations in a statement shared online before the article was published or the episode premiered. 

Additionally, the promoter behind Brand’s “Bipolarisation” tour decided to postpone the remaining three dates of the run. “We are postponing these few remaining addiction charity fundraiser shows, we don’t like doing it — but we know you’ll understand,” the promoter said in a statement shared with Rolling Stone UK.

Following the allegations, Brand was dropped by his talent agency, Tavistock Wood, which was tangentially tied to one of the allegations made against Brand. The woman who said she was in a three-month relationship with Brand when she was 16, and accused him of being “emotionally and sexually abusive,” alleged that Tavistock Wood was aware of her relationship with Brand and recommended he not be seen in public with her (the age of consent in England is 16). Years later, in 2020, the woman said she went to Tavistock Wood with her allegations, seeking an apology, but instead got a letter from Brand’s lawyer accusing her of seeking money.

After this past weekend’s reports, Tavistock Wood issued a statement saying they had dropped Brand: “Russell Brand categorically and vehemently denied the allegation made in 2020, but we now believe we were horribly misled by him. TW has terminated all professional ties to Brand.” 

Along with being dropped by his agency, Brand’s U.K. publisher, Bluebird, decided to pause all book releases related to the actor and comedian (that includes his next book, Recovery: The Workbook, which was scheduled to be published in December). Furthermore, Channel 4 and the BBC have launched internal investigations of their own into Brand, as the timeline of the allegations against him coincides with some of his early work for Channel 4’s Big Brother’s Big Mouth and several BBC radio programs during the mid-to-late 2000s.

From Rolling Stone US.