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Russell Brand, the Florida-based comic and online host, is convicted of rape in London
Russell Brand, the British comedian who moved to Florida and built a large online audience with videos on U.S. politics, wellness and faith, was convicted Thursday of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault. A London jury cleared him of three other counts, and he will be sentenced on Monday.
Russell Brand, the British comedian and Hollywood actor who in recent years relocated to Florida and reinvented himself as an online commentator, was convicted Thursday of rape and sexual assault by a jury in London. According to NBC News and The Associated Press, Brand built a large online following from the U.S. with videos on American politics, wellness, conspiracy theories and his Christian faith.
The jury of eight men and four women at Southwark Crown Court found Brand, 51, guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault involving four women. It acquitted him of two rape counts and one count of attempted indecent assault. Brand had pleaded not guilty to all seven counts and testified that every encounter was consensual.
Judge Joel Bennathan told Brand the verdicts meant “inevitably a significant custodial term” and ordered him held in custody until sentencing on Monday, Nov. 9. The maximum sentence for rape in Britain is life in prison, according to the country's Sentencing Council, as cited by NBC News.
From Hollywood to Rumble
American audiences knew Brand best from comedies such as “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “Get Him to the Greek,” and from his brief marriage to pop star Katy Perry, from 2010 to 2012.
In recent years Brand has moved away from mainstream media. Rumble, the video platform whose U.S. headquarters is in Longboat Key, Florida, said in 2023 that he had passed 1 million followers there. He was also pictured at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
His case drew attention from prominent American commentators before the trial. In May 2025, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson wrote on X that Brand had “no shot at a fair trial because Britain is no longer a free country” and urged his followers to “say a prayer that the Trump administration comes to his rescue,” The Blaze reported.
Brand arrives at a London court in May 2025, a month after he was charged. His trial opened on Oct. 14, 2026.
How the case began
The allegations first emerged in September 2023 in a joint investigation by Britain's Channel 4 “Dispatches” program and The Times and The Sunday Times, in which four women accused him of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse. Brand strongly denied the claims. London's Metropolitan Police opened an inquiry soon after and took more than 340 witness statements, the BBC reported.
He was charged in April 2025 over allegations involving four women between 1999 and 2005. Further counts involving two more women were added later. In court, his lawyers argued that the women went to police only years later, after the 2023 broadcast.
Police, prosecutors and the defense react
Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy of the Metropolitan Police praised the “extraordinary courage, resilience and determination” of the women. “Brand used his influence, status and fame to exploit and sexually offend against women,” he said. “I hope this conviction sends a clear message that no one is above the law, no matter how famous or powerful they may be.”
David Roberts, a senior prosecutor with the Crown Prosecution Service, said Brand “used his celebrity status to commit sexual crimes.” Claire Waxman, the victims' commissioner for England and Wales, warned against “rape myths,” saying the idea that victims must scream, resist or report at once is rooted in outdated assumptions.
Brand showed little emotion as the verdicts were read and told his defense team, “I'm good, I'm good,” as he was led from the dock, the BBC and The Guardian reported. His lawyer, Ian Winter, asked for bail over the weekend as “an act of humanity” so Brand could say goodbye to his three young children. The judge refused, citing Brand's “considerable resources” and the risk that he might not return for sentencing.
During his testimony, Brand admitted he had once been “obsessed” with sex and said fame had made sexual access easy, which he agreed was wrong, but he insisted he never forced anyone. His father, Ron Brand, told the BBC he was “bemused and shocked” by the verdicts. The Metropolitan Police said it is still investigating complaints from two other women.
Photos: Euronews; Thomas Krych/ZUMA Press Wire/IMAGO via DW
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