Russell Brand latest: Met Police investigating sexual offence claims as comedian starts new Rumble live stream

The Metropolitan Police have received a number of sex offence allegations following news reports about Russell Brand.

The comedian and actor has strongly denied accusations made by four women in an investigation by The Sunday Times, The Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches.

On Monday, the force said they have since received a “number of allegations of sexual offences in London” as well as elsewhere in the country.

In a short statement, police said all allegations were non-recent and there have been no arrests.

Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy, from the Met’s Central Specialist Crime Command, said: “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.

“We understand it can feel like a difficult step to take and I want to reassure that we have a team of specialist officers available to advise and support.”

Brand joined Rumble in September last year, after receiving repeated warnings from YouTube over his mostly Covid-related videos.

Rumble, he claimed, was a better platform for his content, as it advertises looser restrictions and a steadfast “resist censorship” ethos.

Tonight, he released his latest video stream on the channel - within an hour of the Met Police announcing an investigation.

During the show he said he would talk about the “collusion between big tech and Government and an apparent concerted effort by legacy media … to silence independent media voices”.

He added: “Obviously, it’s difficult for me to be entirely objective given the events of the last week, but that’s what we must try to do.”

It was just over a week ago when sexual offence allegations were made through the Sunday Times and Channel 4 Dispatches investigation. Russell Brand has denied all allegations he faces.

The 48-year-old comedian and actor was accused of rape, assault and emotional abuse between 2006 and 2013, when he was at the height of his fame working for the BBC, Channel 4 and starring in Hollywood films.

He strongly denies the allegations and insists his relationships have always been consensual.

The LAPD tonight issued a statement hours after Met Police launched an investigation after receiving sex offence allegations in London as well as elsewhere in the country. The allegations follow news reports about Russell Brand, who has strongly denied all accusations.

A spokesperson said: “We have received no complaints and opened no investigations. If there is a victim who comes forward and a crime has been committed we would investigate.”

Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy, from the Met’s Central Specialist Crime Command, said: “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.

“We understand it can feel like a difficult step to take and I want to reassure that we have a team of specialist officers available to advise and support.”

The force said it will be offering specialist support to all of the women who have made allegations.

On Saturday, Brand thanked his supporters for “questioning” the allegations of rape and sexual assault made against him.

In the three-minute clip, posted on YouTube, Rumble and X, he said the week since the claims were published had been “extraordinary and distressing”.

Ed Balls has recently responded to Russell Brand calling him a “clicky-wristed snidey C word” on a Channel 4 quiz in January 2015.

Speaking on the Political Currency with George Osborne and Ed Balls podcast, he said: “The next day I was on the TV talking about policy and public spending, and I get asked about Russell Brand and why he'd said this about me.

“And it was totally weird. I mean, what does clicky-wristed mean? I mean, was it about my sexuality? Was it about a disability?

“I just said that I thought Jo Brand was a better political commentator than Russell Brand, and that he was a pound shop Ben Elton, which got a little bit of news coverage.

“As a consequence, this rapid deterioration in my relationship with Russell Brand, which by the way, didn't really exist before.”

He said he is “appalled by the terrible allegations in which very brave women have come forward”, adding, “at potentially great cost to them, but totally the right thing to do.”

ITV chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall has said strong leaders are needed to call out inappropriate behaviour, and feels “perhaps that has not happened enough”.

Dame Carolyn reflected on how the industry is handling abuses of power within its ranks at the Royal Television Society (RTS) Cambridge conference on Thursday.

Speaking at the RTS conference, Dame Carolyn said: “It’s a really serious issue. I think there are two things, some are historic and some are current, and then there will be more emerging.

“It won’t be just our industry, it will be much wider than that society. But I think that the one thing to know for sure is that every single broadcaster will take it very seriously. No-one wants this to happen. It’s appalling some of the things that have emerged.”

Asked if she feels the message is getting through to the top talent and executives, Dame Carolyn added: “I think the only way that happens is someone speaking up, but also how the talent is managed, and that’s another very big area that we spend an awful lot of time on, which is that you have to have strong leaders, managers who will say ‘that’s not appropriate’ or ‘we’ve had complaints come out and this is what we’re going to do about it’.

“I think, perhaps, that has not happened enough because that’s not come out enough.”

Piers Morgan claimed in his recent column that Katy Perry had a nickname for her ex-husband Russell Brand, who currently faces accusations of rape and sexual abuse.

Brand has vehemently denied the allegations made against him.

In his latest op-ed for The Sun published on Tuesday (19 September), Morgan, 58, recalled meeting Perry, 38, at a Vanity Fair party in Washington DC in 2013 – a year after her divorce from Brand.

It was here that Morgan claims Perry referred to her ex-husband as “Rasputin” – the infamous Russian mystic and holy man known for his influence over the Tsars and his storied sexual exploits.

Tom Murray reports: