Russell Brand has just been convicted of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault following a four-week trial at Southwark Crown Court in London, marking the definitive collapse of his career and public standing. It has been quite the fall from grace. Difficult as it is to imagine now, Brand was a hugely popular and widely admired public figure when his fame was at its peak in the mid-2000s. I was in my mid-twenties at that time living in London and I distinctly remember the buzz that seemed to surround him wherever he went. Many of my friends and acquaintances at that time were in his thrall, for reasons I could never quite fathom. At the risk of being wise after the event: I always thought the man was a prat. That said, I never could have imagined the depths of his depravity.
It is a sign of the extent to which Brand’s star has waned since then that countless people will have rejoiced at this verdict, which has been coming for some time now. Brand’s downfall was precipitated by a 2023 Dispatches documentary entitled In Plain Sight, but rumors about his behavior had been swirling since long before then. He will be sentenced next week and a custodial term is now inevitable. How long he’ll be incarcerated for is not clear at this stage but it will certainly be measured in years, maybe as many as 20. The case has left many wondering how such an abusive narcissist was ever allowed to rise to the top of his profession – particularly as evidence of his appalling behavior was right in front of us all along.
Perhaps the most egregious piece of evidence came in 2008 when Brand, who was presenting a Radio 2 show at that time, along with his guest Jonathan Ross, left a series of voicemail messages for the Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs boasting of how Brand had slept with Sach’s granddaughter. As a result Brand was forced to resign and Ross was suspended for three months. Yet many were astonished that Brand – “a predator, live on air”, as former BBC executive Lorraine Heggessey put it – was able to keep his job for as long as he did. In one prior episode of his show he openly joked about following a woman into a toilet and exposing himself to her. In another he offered to send his female assistant, naked, to his celebrity guest: Jimmy Savile.
Brand’s crimes were well-known on the comedy circuit. His fellow comedians called him out on stage for years before the law caught up with him, and several clips have now emerged of comedians saying they knew all about Brand and his behavior. Despite this he still continued to have a successful TV career and even starred in a couple of Hollywood movies (albeit they were terrible). Brand even bragged about his assaults in a book that reached #1 in the Sunday Times best sellers list. What makes all this even harder to understand is that Brand is not remotely funny, clever, or likeable. The man is a con artist who somehow managed to convince everyone that he is a comedian and an intellectual. But he was never either of these things. He is an insufferable blowhard.
It seems those in the public eye were happy to look the other way when they thought they could use Brand to further their interests. TV and radio executives gave Brand a pass because they knew that – for some reason – he was popular with their audiences. As soon as Brand became toxic they suddenly developed morals and dropped him like a hot potato. Many have remarked on how Brand was not able to convince a single person to act as a character witness (other than his wife). Yet during the height of his fame, his celebrity ‘friends’ were often more than happy to jump on the Brand bandwagon, presumably because they knew it would help them further their careers. He was even feted by ‘left-wing’ journalists such as Owen Jones and George Monbiot.
Whilst Brand had the nation under his spell he could get away with whatever he wanted, but as soon as the spell was broken the fall was always going to be hard. Brand himself seemed to anticipate this: when allegations against him first emerged, he became a YouTuber so that he could convince everyone that the eventual court case was an establishment stitch-up. He then conveniently discovered Jesus and started carrying a Bible wherever he went. Brand actually seemed to think he was going to be redeemed, saying he could “feel god’s presence” whilst walking into court. Unfortunately for Brand, by that point not even god could save him. He will now go to prison where he’ll likely find out what it’s like to be at the receiving end of the kind of abuse he was apparently dishing out for years.
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