Dispatches Russell Brand: The Times and Sunday Times reveal comedian is subject of show and has been accused of rape

The Times and Sunday Times have revealed that comedian Russell Brand is the subject of tonight's Channel 4 Dispatches programme - and has been accused of rape, sexual assaults and abuse.

In an artcle which was published on The Times wesbite shortly after 4pm, The Times said "four women, including one who was just 16", made allegations against Brand after an investigation by themselves, The Sunday Times and Channel 4 Dispatches. The piece revealed "Brand has been accused of rape, sexual assaults and emotional abuse during a seven-year period at the height of his fame" between 2006 and 2013.

The article has been published around 16 hours after Brand posted a video on his Twitter (now X) page saying he “absolutely” denies what were then unspecified criminal allegations about his personal life and his relationships.

In the video, which was posted just after 11.20pm on Friday (15 September), said: “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 also said that he had been sent an email and a letter from a “mainstream media TV company” and a newspaper which included “very serious allegations” that he “absolutely refute(s).”

Although Brand, who is now married with two children and has a third baby on the way, did not name the company or the newspaper, the fact that information had been released about the Dispatches programme being aired tonight (Saturday 16 September) at 9pm on Channel 4 which contained explosive revelations about a celebrity had led many people to speculate that he was the subject of the show. It has now been revealed by the makers of Dispatches that the title of the show is "Russell Brand: In Plain Sight".

The investigation has found that incidents allegedly took place while Brand was a presenter for BBC Radio 2 and Channel 4 and then an actor in Hollywood films in the early and mid 2000s. Women have also made a range of accusations about Brand’s apparent controlling, abusive and predatory behaviour. A total of five women will share their stories in tonight's Dispatches programme.. All of them supposedly said they only felt ready to speak after being approached by reporters. Most of the women, who do not know each other, have chosen to remain anonymous.

One woman alleges that Brand raped her against a wall in his Los Angeles home. A second woman alleges that Brand, now aged 48, assaulted her when he was 31 and she was 16 and still at school. She said he referred to her as “the child” during an emotionally abusive and controlling relationship that lasted for about three months.

A third woman claims that he sexually assaulted her while she worked with him in LA and a fourth also described being sexually assaulted by him and said he was physically and emotionally abusive towards her.

The investigation has been on-going for a "few years", and reporters are said to have interviewed "hundreds of sources" who either knew or worked with Brand, including his ex-girlfriends and their friends and family, comedians and other celebrities, people who worked with him on radio and TV, and senior staff at the BBC, Channel 4 and other media organisations.

Reporters have also allegedly seen private emails and text messages, submitted freedom of information requests, viewed medical and therapists’ notes, read Brand’s own books and interviews, and watched and listened to hundreds of hours of his shows on the BBC, Channel 4 and YouTube to corroborate the allegations made against him.

The Times and The Sunday Times report that they gave Brand eight days within which to reply to detailed allegations in their investigation before publishing their report, including information to enable him to recall the alleged incidents.  

Lawyers for Brand supposedly initially said that they were not in a position to provide any response to the allegations because the details provided had posed a “large litany of questions” and had said The Times, Sunday Times and Chanel 4 had intentionally chosen to anonymise the names of the women. They then allegedly labelled this as being part of a pre-conceived strategy aimed at damaging their client.

In the video Brand, who is also an actor, writer and political activist, posted on his own social media page, which many media personalities responded to prior to his identity being revealed, he also accused the mainstream media of a co-ordinated attack on him and said that there are witnesses whose evidence directly contradicts the narratives in the investigation. The Sunday Times report that they asked his lawyer for the evidence referred to in the video but no answer was provided to them.

Brand, or his lawyers, have not spoken out publicly since The Times article was published.