Russell has been charged by the Crown Prosecution Service, and faces a criminal trial. Within is my update, separate to the main show's content.Rape Crisis UK - https://rapecrisis.org.ukRAINN (US) - https://rainn.orgSupport Al on Patreon! - https://patreon.com/OnBrand
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| Hello everyone! | |
| This is a quick update that I wanted to make separately to the main content, particularly as this specific subject is going to be veering away from any lightheartedness or comedy. | |
| As such, the main episode of regularly scheduled content will be up in a few hours. | |
| Otherwise, for anyone who hasn't seen the news or Russell Brand has been charged with rape, indecent assault, and sexual assault in the wake of the criminal investigation by London's Metropolitan Police Force. | |
| This all, of course, comes in the wake of the 2023 joint investigation into his conduct by The Times, The Sunday Times, and Channel 4's Dispatch's documentary team. | |
| Since that moment, Russell has strenuously denied all allegations, alleging that they're a concerted effort from the legacy media, the British government, MI5, and even the CIA, because Russell was speaking too much truth to power. | |
| To put it bluntly, that is all unfounded bullshit, but it has been effective bullshit, with the alt-right media sphere siding with Russell pretty uniformly. | |
| One of the chief complaints from people wanting to defend Russell has been, well, if these are legitimate accusations, why go to the media? | |
| Why not go to the police? | |
| And to all of those people, here you go. | |
| Here is a small excerpt from the BBC coverage describing the charges, quote, The force said it is alleged that in 1999, a woman was raped in the Bournemouth area. | |
| In 2001, a woman was indecently assaulted in the Westminster area of London. | |
| In 2004, a woman was orally raped and sexually assaulted in the Westminster area of London. | |
| Between 2004 and 2005, a woman was sexually assaulted in the Westminster area of London." So, there we are. | |
| That's what's been investigated by the police. | |
| I could get into a lengthy argument about how only 1% of rape investigations actually end in conviction, and why there are such intense systemic problems in how rape and sexual assault are dealt with in our justice system, and so it is actually perfectly reasonable not to go to the police. | |
| But I will save that for another time, because there you go, Defenders of Russell, the authorities have done their thing. | |
| Here we are. | |
| I hope that will change some minds. | |
| What I personally find interesting is that, so far as I can tell, only one of those incidents was covered in the piece from The Times in 2023. | |
| Though I could be wrong about that, as obviously the information is sufficiently vague to protect the victims and the integrity of the case as a whole. | |
| With that in mind, I'd like to read a statement from Jaswant Narwal of the Crown Prosecution Service. | |
| We carefully reviewed the evidence after a police investigation into allegations made following the broadcast of a Channel 4 documentary in September 2023. | |
| We have concluded that Russell Brand should be charged with offences including rape, sexual assault and indecent assault. | |
| These relate to reported non-recent offences between 1999 and 2005 involving four women. | |
| The Crown Prosecution Service reminds everyone that criminal proceedings are active and the defendant has the right to a fair trial. | |
| It is extremely important Now, if I'm to be responsible, that last part very much includes me and my coverage on this podcast, and so I am here on out going to be pretty careful about what I'm saying with regards to this case, as I don't wish to jeopardise it in any way. | |
| That said, If Russell comes out with some bullshit trying to spin more conspiracy theories around this, you bet your ass I'm gonna cover it. | |
| Legacy media institutions have pretty strict regulations in the UK around what it is they're allowed to publish when it comes to situations like this, pending criminal cases, right? | |
| And so if Russell does start shooting off at the mouth, they're actually pretty powerless to defend against it or report on it. | |
| And it can lead to some serious repercussions if they try. | |
| As an independent podcaster, I am not in that same position. | |
| And so if Russell does start talking shit, I will be correcting the record as best I can while being careful not to infringe upon the integrity of the legal case against him. | |
| Fingers crossed he'll keep his mouth shut. | |
| And, you know, there's every chance he is legally compelled to remain silent. | |
| But were I a betting person, that is not the direction my money would be going. | |
| So we shall see. | |
| And the final point here is that Russell has been ordered to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court next month on May 2nd. | |
| As we all know, he fled the country in the summer of last year and currently resides in Florida, somewhere around Destin. | |
| In these situations, where a suspect may be overseas, prosecutors seek to agree the defendant's return. | |
| Um, you know, through dialogue, and hopefully the person will willfully come back. | |
| If there is no cooperation from a suspect, authorities then have to consider seeking extradition. | |
| Based on Russell's previous conduct around this issue, I would be truly surprised if he cooperates with the request for him to return to the UK. | |
| Though, there is still time for him to do the right thing. | |
| In the event that extradition is sought, my very real concern is that Russell is staying in a country where the leader of the alt-right globally is in power. | |
| That very same alt-right that has done everything it can to dismiss the allegations against Russell. | |
| Russell received the Global Defender of Freedom Award from Donald Trump not two months ago. | |
| Not only that, but the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, has been on Russell's show. | |
| Uh, Russell has described being on friendly terms with Ron more than once. | |
| If this does get to the point of extradition, there is every chance it could get real ugly real quick and at the very least provide enough time for Russell to go to Bali or wherever he decides to finally set up that cult of his. | |
| Now, that is of course the worst possible eventuality here, well, among them anyway, and it would seem an extreme idea were we not discussing a government that's just imposed tariffs on a bunch of penguins. | |
| However, it is possible that Russell will willingly return to the UK and stand trial and face his accusers. | |
| That is a possibility. | |
| That's what I hope happens. | |
| It's also possible that he doesn't return to the UK, but Trump doesn't give enough of a shit and won't stand in the way of Russell getting deported. | |
| That is also possible. | |
| We can only wait to find out. | |
| In the meantime, our lead detective Andy Furphy made this clear, quote, The Met's investigation remains open and detectives ask anyone who has been affected by this case or anyone who has any information to come forward and speak with police. | |
| A dedicated team of investigators is available via email at cit.met.police.uk. | |
| Support is also available by contacting the independent charity Rape Crisis at the 24-7 Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Line, unquote. | |
| I will, of course, do my best to keep everyone up to date with any important developments on this and hopefully, if we're very lucky, we might see justice served and in the fairly imminent future. | |
| Otherwise, I will see you all in a few hours for the main show. | |
| In the meantime, take care of yourselves and each other. | |
| Thank you very much. | |
| I love you. |