Russell Brand, who quit Berkshire for Florida to join the inner circle of Donald Trump’s MAGA fanatics, was today summoned to court in the UK to face rape charges.
Since moving to America, the 49-year-old comic has built a new life, embracing Christianity and becoming ingratiated into Trump’s circle of wealthy, famous friends.
Brand attended the President’s inauguration in January and has been pictured with some of Trump’s most well-known supporters.
But could the charges now levelled against Brand threaten to destroy his blooming relationship with the US president and his allies.
The 49-year-old is accused of rape and indecent assault, oral rape and two counts of sexual assault against four women.
Brand has vehemently denied the accusations and has said he will fight the claims in court. He is due to appear in front of Westminster magistrates on May 2.
The comic, who now lives with his family in their £1.9m bungalow in Florida’s Santa Rosa Beach, recently joined the inner circle of Trump’s MAGA fanatics.
After attending Trump’s inauguration, Brand was in February honoured with a ‘Global Defender of Freedom’ award at a black-tie gala ceremony in the ballroom at Mar-a-Lago – the 78-year-old billionaire’s palatial home in Palm Beach, Florida.
The event was hosted by rabid Christian nationalist General Mike Flynn, who was briefly Trump’s security adviser and now runs America’s Future, a charity which fights to promote ‘American values and traditions’.
A number of controversial, big-named personalities were in attendance including retired boxing world champion and convicted rapist, Mike Tyson.
There, too, was guitarist Ted Nugent, whose forthright views on transgender people and pro-gun lobby stance has seen him effectively cancelled by the music industry.
Before he arrived at Mar-a-Lago, Brand spent some time ‘hanging out’ with another new close friend: Robert Kennedy Jr, nephew of late President JFK, a former heroin addict.
The pair had built such a rapport that Brand backed RFK Jr in his abortive bid for the White House last year, before later shifting allegiances to Trump.
‘If you care about freedom, I don’t know how you could do anything other than vote for Donald Trump, for precisely the reasons that they claim you can’t,’ Brand said online.
It comes as Brand also declared himself a born-again Christian on Instagram last year, after he was baptised in the Thames by his friend, the TV survivalist Bear Grylls.
‘My life has changed. Praise Jesus,’ he wrote.
Grylls described the baptism as ‘a real moment of humility and repentance’.
He added that it was a ‘privilege to stand beside anyone when they express a humble need for forgiveness.’
Brand is now also in the habit of baptising others in the Christian faith.
On September 27 last year he shared on Facebook pictures of him baptising a convert in a river and wrote: ‘It may seem a bit soon to be baptising people but the Apostles did it on day one, so here we are.’
He has since prayed with US right-wing commentator and conspiracy theorist Tucker Carlson and this Wednesday he attended a record reveal party for prominent Christian worship singer Brandon Lake in Charleston, South Carolina.
Appearing on stage together, Brand told Lake that he was ‘so honoured’ to be there and the ‘palpable presence of the Lord is a glory to behold’.
Brand added: ‘Man, I really admire you because I don’t think it’s very easy to live in a commercial space, to be an entertainer, and remain aligned with the Lord.
‘It seems like a place that’s fraught with temptation and spiritual warfare and I think that all of us – particularly someone like me who has come to Christ very recently…
‘I can feel that there is a lot of change and a lot of transformation and I feel blessed to be in a community of people that are able to hold this incredible amount of change.’
This afternoon, Brand again spoke out against the serious accusations against him, stating he has ‘never been a rapist’.
He accused the government of turning the law into ‘a weapon’, before repeating previous denials that he has ever engaged in non-consensual sex.
In a video posted to X, formerly Twitter on Friday afternoon, Brand thanked fans for their support and said he would fight the claims in court.
‘I was a fool before I lived in the light of the Lord. I was a drug addict, a sex addict and an imbecile,’ he said.
‘But what I never was, was a rapist. I have never engaged in non-consensual activity – I pray that you can see that by looking in my eyes.’
He is charged with the rape of a woman in 1999 in the Bournemouth area and the oral rape and sexual assault of a woman in 2004 in the Westminster area of London.
Essex-born Brand was also charged with indecently assaulting a woman in 2001 and sexually assaulting another woman between 2004 and 2005. Both offences are alleged to have taken place in Westminster.
The star was married to pop singer Katy Perry from 2010 to 2012 – then in 2017 wed Laura Gallacher, the sister of presenter Kirsty, and the pair have three children.
Brand, who presented a BBC Radio 2 show between 2006 and 2008, left the role after his on-air prank, now known as Sachsgate, when he left a ‘lewd’ voicemail for Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs about his granddaughter.
He also presented on Big Brother spin-off shows Big Brother’s Big Mouth and Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack.
In the video posted to X on Friday, Brand claimed that the law was being used as a weapon against people who would not tolerate corruption.
After denying his guilt of the sex offences, he added: ‘I want to thank all of you for all your continuing support.
‘I want to let you know that our show will be on Rumble on Monday, thanks for your support there, and of course I’m now going to have the opportunity to defend these charges in court and I’m incredibly grateful for that.
‘In the meantime you lot, stay free and we will be continuing to discuss this matter. Praise the Lord.’
Today, Metropolitan Police Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy said: ‘The women who have made reports continue to receive support from specially trained officers.
‘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 [email protected].
‘Support is also available by contacting the independent charity, Rape Crisis at 24/7 Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Line.’
Jaswant Narwal of the Crown Prosecution Service said: ‘We have today authorised the Metropolitan Police to charge Russell Brand with a number of sexual offences.
‘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.
‘He will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court for a first hearing on Friday 2 May 2025. 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 that there be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.’
In November 2024, the CPS confirmed that detectives from the Metropolitan Police had passed on an evidence file regarding sex offence allegations against Brand.
The actor has previously denied wrongdoing and stated that all his sexual relationships were ‘absolutely always consensual’.
At the time of the alleged offences, Brand was at the height of his stardom, working for BBC Radio 2 and Channel 4 as well as appearing in Hollywood films.
Brand rose to fame with his stand-up performances, making his Edinburgh Festival debut in 2000 before achieving prominence as host of Big Brother’s spin-off show Big Mouth from 2004 for three years.
However, in 2008, he and presenter Jonathan Ross were at the centre of a furore after leaving a series of lewd messages during a prank on BBC Radio 2 on the answerphone of Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs, who died in 2016.
The pre-recorded show caused uproar, prompting Brand and the controller of Radio 2 to quit, Ross to be suspended from broadcasting for three months and a shake-up in the way BBC output was vetted.
Ofcom later fined the BBC £150,000 over the phone calls, describing them as ‘gratuitously offensive, humiliating and demeaning’.
During an interview for BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs in 2013, Brand claimed the scandal, later named Sachsgate, had erupted because he had become caught up in an anti-BBC ‘agenda’.
He reiterated his apology for the upset the incident caused, but suggested it was a ‘dishonest scandal’ because it was hijacked by those motivated by a bias against the corporation.
Brand’s career in the US soared following the Sachsgate scandal, starring in a number of major Hollywood films including Forgetting Sarah Marshall opposite Kristen Bell, and Get Him To The Greek with Jonah Hill, both in which he plays the same anarchic British rock star Aldous Snow.
He also starred in the re-make of the Dudley Moore comedy Arthur alongside Dame Helen Mirren, Jennifer Garner and Greta Gerwig, the boozy tale of a wayward playboy.