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Police say they received a sexual assault report after media aired claims against Russell Brand
Jill Lawless reporter the Associated Press posed photo at AP Europe in London, Friday, Jan. 22, 2016. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant) BY JILL LAWLESS Updated 11:27 AM EDT, September 18, 2023 Share LONDON (AP) —
British police on Monday urged women who allege they were sexually assaulted by Russell Brand to talk to officers, as the U.K. entertainment industry faced questions about whether the comedian’s bad behavior went unchallenged because of his fame.
Brand, 48, 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.
London’s Metropolitan Police force said that after the allegations were made public it had received “a report of a sexual assault which was alleged to have taken place in Soho in central London in 2003.” That is three years before the earliest of the alleged assaults reported by the media outlets.
The police force said “officers are in contact with the woman and will be providing her with support.” It did not identify the alleged perpetrator as Brand, but referred to the newspaper and TV allegations in its statement. Police urged “anyone who believes they may have been a victim of a sexual offence, no matter how long ago it was, to contact us.”
In a video statement released Friday in response to the media claims, Brand said 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.”
Police say they received a sexual assault report after media aired claims against Russell Brand
Jill Lawless reporter the Associated Press posed photo at AP Europe in London, Friday, Jan. 22, 2016. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant) BY JILL LAWLESS Updated 11:27 AM EDT, September 18, 2023 Share LONDON (AP) —
British police on Monday urged women who allege they were sexually assaulted by Russell Brand to talk to officers, as the U.K. entertainment industry faced questions about whether the comedian’s bad behavior went unchallenged because of his fame.
Brand, 48, 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.
London’s Metropolitan Police force said that after the allegations were made public it had received “a report of a sexual assault which was alleged to have taken place in Soho in central London in 2003.” That is three years before the earliest of the alleged assaults reported by the media outlets.
The police force said “officers are in contact with the woman and will be providing her with support.” It did not identify the alleged perpetrator as Brand, but referred to the newspaper and TV allegations in its statement. Police urged “anyone who believes they may have been a victim of a sexual offence, no matter how long ago it was, to contact us.”
In a video statement released Friday in response to the media claims, Brand said 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.”
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