Dispatches: Russell Brand denies 'criminal allegations' against him in video

Actor and comedian Russell Brand has posted a video online saying he “absolutely” denies unspecified criminal allegations about his personal life outlined in two “extremely disturbing letters”.

Brand posted the video on his YouTube and social media accounts on Friday, saying he received the letters from a “mainstream media TV company” and a newspaper which he said included a “litany of extremely egregious and aggressive attacks”.

He said: “Amidst this litany of astonishing, rather baroque attacks are some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute.”

“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.”

He continued: “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.

“To see that transparency metastasised into something criminal, that I absolutely deny, makes me question is there another agenda at play.”

Brand said he believes he is a part of a “co-ordinated attack” and said he is going to look into this matter because it is “very, very serious”.

Elon Musk, owner of the platform X which was formerly named Twitter, commented on Brand’s social media post: “Of course. They don’t like competition.”

In the wake of the #MeToo movement, the actor and comedian previously said he had no regrets about his previous sexual behaviour, claiming to have had intimate relationships with hundreds of women in the past.

In 2008, Brand made headlines for his BBC Radio 2 prank, now known as Sachsgate, when he left a “lewd” voicemail for Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs – who died in 2016 – about his granddaughter.

Brand was married to US pop star Katy Perry from 2010 to 2012 but is now married to Laura Gallacher, the sister of presenter Kirsty, and the pair have two children, Mabel and Peggy.

In recent years, he has seemingly become a prominent conspiracy theorist, including his appearance on Newsnight with Evan Davis when he said he was open minded about whether the 9/11 terror attacks had been faked by the American government.

With almost seven million followers on YouTube, Brand has used the social media outlet to cover topical news stories, including alleged misinformation surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic and being an outspoken sceptic of the vaccine.

Some of the most popular videos on Brand’s channel include suggesting a global Covid-19 cover-up and the Great Reset conspiracy theory which claims a global elite is using the pandemic to enforce radical social change.

His new live comedy show, Russell Brand Bipolarisation, has four dates left in September, including at Wembley Park Theatre on Saturday.