I suppose this was the next inevitable step in the progression of this story. After British media published several sensational stories concerning women who are alleging that they were raped or sexually assaulted by comedian and actor Russell Brand, a trickle of news quickly turned into a deluge. Some social media platforms (though not Rumble) quickly moved to demonetize his popular channels. And now the British police have announced that they are opening a sex crime investigation into Brand after receiving “a number of allegations” of sexual offenses. To be clear, he still hasn’t been officially charged with anything, to say nothing of being convicted, but this train clearly appears to be picking up a head of steam. (Associated Press)

British police have opened a sex crimes investigation triggered by news reports about comedian Russell Brand.

London’s Metropolitan Police force said Monday that it had “received a number of allegations of sexual offences” after a television documentary and newspaper investigations. It said there have been no arrests.

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.

The statement from the police didn’t even mention Russell Brand by name, but it was obvious that’s who they were talking about. They indicated that the complaints they received all involved “non-recent” incidents that allegedly took place in London and other parts of the country. There was no total given, but it certainly sounds as if more women have decided to come forward after the press published the first four anonymous accounts.

As I wrote when the story first broke, I’ve been of two minds about this. I’ve been following a lot of the analysis and discussion of the story, and I’m clearly not the only one in that position. Even if all of the accusers are anonymous at this point and there has been nothing definitively proven, this unfortunately sounds like something Brand might have done during his heaving drinking and drugging days. He’s made references to his sexual escapades in both his books and his standup act. He described himself as being excessively “promiscuous.” Some of the women may have viewed it differently.

But at the same time, I can’t shake a nagging sense of suspicion about the timing of all of this. The allegations all date back to Brand’s days on “the A list” when his star was rising. Since then, he may not have fallen all the way to Kathy Griffin’s “D list,” but he’s arguably on the B or C level at this point, though he was still doing standup tours. If he hadn’t started using his platform to attack not only mainstream Hollywood but the central government(s) and narratives about COVID, elections, and everything else, would the media have bothered digging into this and coming after him? The timing just seems a bit too convenient.

Again, if the allegations prove to be true, Russell Brand must be held accountable in whatever form that takes. But he also deserves the opportunity to defend himself since he is denying the allegations. And until the matter is resolved, it is premature to begin digging his grave or have the UK government use its influence to get advertisers and social media platforms to freeze him out. Now, if the police are planning to move forward with this, we may eventually get an “official” answer one way or the other. But that could take a while since investigating allegations from years ago can prove challenging if it’s even possible to reach a definitive answer.