Sex Assault Allegations Against Comedian Russell Brand Spark Calls for Police Investigation

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Sex Assault Allegations Against Comedian Russell Brand Spark

A senior British politician on Monday urged police to investigate sexual assault allegations against Russell Brand, as entertainment industry figures faced questions about whether the comedian’s bad behavior went unchallenged because of his fame.

Brand denies allegations of sexual assault made by four women in a Channel 4 television documentary and The Times and Sunday Times newspapers. The accusers, who have not been named, include one who said she was sexually assaulted during a relationship with him when she was 16. Another woman says Brand raped her in Los Angeles in 2012.

Brand, 48, has rejected all the claims, saying in a video statement that his relationships were “always consensual.”
The Times said Monday that more women had contacted the newspaper with allegations against Brand and they would be “rigorously checked.”

Conservative legislator Caroline Nokes, who chairs the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee, urged police in both Britain and the United States to investigate the “incredibly shocking” allegations.

“This merits and needs a criminal investigation, because for too long we have seen men — and the perpetrators of these sorts of crimes are almost invariably men — not being held to account for their behaviors and their actions,” she told BBC radio.

London’s Metropolitan Police force said it would speak to the Sunday Times and Channel 4 to ensure “any victims of crime who they have spoken with are aware of how they may report any criminal allegations to police.”

The claims have renewed debate about the “lad culture” that flourished in Britain in the 1990s and early 2000s, and the misogyny that still percolates on the internet.

What is Denim Day? Awareness against sexual violence