Russell Brand denies rape and sexual assault charges in court

Russell Brand denied every charge against him as he took the witness stand Wednesday at his rape and sexual assault trial in London, telling jurors that consent had always been “non-negotiable” in his sexual relationships.

The 51-year-old actor and comedian faces three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one charge of attempted indecent assault. Six women have made allegations concerning events between 1999 and 2009. Brand has pleaded not guilty to all seven charges.

At Southwark Crown Court, his lawyer went through the charges one by one. Brand answered “no” to each. “My entire life has been consumed by these allegations,” he told the court. Asked about consent, he said: “Consent is fundamental, essential, necessary and indeed in many ways more important than sex itself.”

One woman alleges Brand raped her in a hotel room after they met at a Labour Party conference in 1999. She said she had believed he was gay and had invited him to her room to continue a conversation. Brand said he remembered meeting her but denied portraying himself as gay. He said she suggested going to the room and denied raping her. Under cross-examination, he rejected a suggestion that he did not care whether she wanted sex, saying: “I know what no means.”

A woman who worked at MTV alleged Brand grabbed her forearm in 2001 and tried to pull her into a bathroom. Brand said he did not recall meeting her and denied trying to initiate a non-consensual encounter.

Another woman alleges he grabbed her breasts and orally raped her in a toilet at a London bar in 2004. Brand said he remembered going into the toilet with her but denied forcing her inside, grabbing her breasts or raping her. Asked whether he would have behaved as alleged, he called it “disgusting behaviour.”

A fourth complainant alleges Brand anally raped her in 2009 after they had sex backstage at London’s Hammersmith Apollo theatre and later went to his home. Brand acknowledged having anal sex with her but said she had consented and had not asked him to stop. He said he did not recall a text exchange in which she alleges she accused him of treating her “like an animal” and he replied “sorry.” If he had apologized, he said, it would have been for her “expressed dissatisfaction.”

Prosecutors challenged Brand over when he recalled details of some encounters, suggesting his memory developed after he saw the women’s accounts and other evidence. He denied tailoring his account. CBS News reported that Brand said revisiting the location of the alleged 2004 assault and seeing a police video interview helped him remember that encounter.

Brand also blamed a 2023 Channel 4 Dispatches documentary for the allegations against him. He said its effect was “devastating” and that friends and colleagues had turned away from him. The BBC reported that Brand told the court he had been barred from staying with his son at a London hospital during the child’s open-heart surgery because of material published about him.

Brand acknowledged that he had been promiscuous and “obsessed” with sex when he was younger, but denied that any of the alleged encounters were non-consensual. The trial continues.