Russell Brand charged with new counts of rape and sexual assault in UK

Alexandra Del Rosario, Los Angeles Times on Dec 23, 2025

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Russell Brand, the irreverent British comedian-turned-conservative influencer, faces two additional sex crime charges in the United Kingdom.

The Metropolitan Police announced Tuesday that prosecutors charged the 50-year-old “Get Him to the Greek” and “Rock of Ages” star with another count of rape and another count of sexual assault. The charges stem from an investigation into allegations raised by two additional women, police said. A representative for Brand did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment on Tuesday.

Brand was charged in April with two counts of rape, one count of indecent assault and two counts of sexual assault in connection to four separate alleged incidents involving different women from 1999 to 2005. Prosecutors at the time accused Brand of raping a woman in the English seaside area of Bournemouth in 1999. He also allegedly indecently assaulted a second woman in 2001, orally raped and sexually assaulted a third woman in 2004 and sexually assaulted the fourth woman between 2004 to 2005. Those allegations occurred in Westminster, according to U.K. officials.

He pleaded not guilty to those charges in May, doubling down on his initial denials on social media.

Sexual assault and rape allegations against Brand notably became public in September 2023, when the Times of London published its joint investigation with “Dispatches,” a news program on Britain’s Channel 4. Numerous women alleged at the time that they were sexually assaulted by Brand between 2006 and 2013. Months later, a woman sued Brand for sexual assault on the set of his 2011 film “Arthur,” and the BBC revealed it had fielded numerous complaints about Brand’s workplace conduct during his radio hosting tenure from 2006 to 2008.

As Brand fell mostly out of public favor within the past decade, he pivoted his focus to religious and “free-thinking” content. Brand most recently appeared at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest 2025, mining ex-wife Katy Perry’s (they split in 2011) love life for laughs. On Tuesday, Brand posted a selfie video of himself driving while telling followers, “This is a time of great darkness.”

“A time of confusion and dispute and conflict, but I’ve learned in my own life that attack can bring about grace,” he said, adding that he feels grateful for the opportunity to atone for the unspecified “many things, over the years, that I did wrong.”

Brand is set to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court for a hearing on the new charges on Jan. 20.

Looking ahead to the new year, Brand said in his video “there are going to be big, staged — I don’t wanna say battles... ‘trials’ is what I’m going to call them.” His trial for the original five sexual assault and rape charges is scheduled to begin in June.