Charges against Russell Brand reduced by London judge in UK sex case

On Tuesday, Justice Bennethan of the Southwark Crown Court reduced the indecent assault charge to attempted indecent assault, per the Hollywood Reporter. The judge told the jury there was “insufficient evidence” to support the charge, and told the jury they should find Brand not guilty of the allegation that had been made against him.

The charge related to a claim made by a complainant who alleged that while she was working at MTV with Brand in 2001, he had attempted to drag her into a nearby toilet by the arm. The six women’s allegations at the center of the case span from 1999 to 2009.

Brand has denied all of the charges. Brand’s interview with police from November 16, 2023 was played in court on Tuesday.

He said in a prepared statement, “As I have repeatedly stated publicly and written about extensively, I led a very promiscuous life in the past, which I have spent years openly denouncing. I have never engaged in nonconsensual sexual activity.”

He continued referencing a documentary and allegations in the Sunday Times:

“On September 16, 2023, a defamatory and fictitious documentary was broadcast in conjunction with the publication of two national newspapers containing false, anonymized allegations, which led to unprecedented media reporting. Subsequently, both the media and the police publicly invited additional allegations to be made, which has resulted in further encounters to be invented or reimagined.”

In another prepared statement from December 2023, Brand said he often kissed people in public in an attempt to be “friendly, consensual, and warm” with fans. He said, “There was often physical contact. At live shows, press events, junkets and book signings, I did my best to be accessible, nondiscriminatory and loving. I spent a lot of time at these events.”

“Everything I did in public once I was famous could be photographed or recorded and end up in the tabloids — I was aware of this,” Brand continued. “I routinely made provocative jokes or comments both with members of the public and during live performances and broadcasts.”

He told police that he did “on occasion find reasons for leaving, or for asking partners in casual sexual encounters to leave, shortly after the experience had concluded.” He added, “I had sexual encounters in countless locations and scenarios, often with people I had just met.”

He said that this way of life, combined with the “magnitude of the promiscuity deceptively rendered in recent media attacks, accompanied by advertisements for complainants,” has caused “consensual encounters to be unfavorably reframed decades later.”