British comedian and actor Russell Brand has been found guilty of rape and sexual assault in a London court on Thursday.
asserted
Brand → find → Thursday
Brand, once one of Britain’s most high-profile broadcasters and the former husband of singer Katy Perry, had denied the accusations, saying the incidents had either been consensual, reinvented or re-imagined.
Brand, 51, was accused of three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one count of attempted indecent assault.
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Brand → deny → assault
Ultimately he was found guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault.
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he → find → assault
He was acquitted of the other charges.
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He → acquit → charges
He had pleaded not guilty to all counts and consistently denied all of the allegations.
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He → plead → allegations
The accusations date back to Brand’s rise as a stand-up comedian and risqué presenter on British television.
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accusations → date → television
He had a prominent radio show on the BBC and authored several best-selling biographies where he detailed his addictions to drugs and alcohol.
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he → have → drugs
At the height of his fame, Brand featured in several Hollywood movies including: “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “Get Him to the Greek.”
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Brand → feature → Greek
His fame stateside was cemented when he briefly wed pop star Katy Perry in a lavish ceremony in India in 2010.
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he → cement → 2010
The couple divorced in 2012.
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couple → divorce → 2012
In recent years, Brand has moved away from mainstream media, relocated to Florida and built a large online following with videos that discuss U.S. politics, wellness, conspiracy theories and his newfound Christian faith.
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that → move → politics
The three-week trial at Southwark Crown Court in London saw prosecutors label Brand “ruthless.”
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prosecutors → see → Brand
Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones told jurors that Brand at the time had an “indiscriminate and voracious” desire for sexual contact, and that “women were simply a means to an end.”
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women → tell → end
The prosecutor described Brand as “calculating, he was manipulative.
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he → describe → Brand
And, the prosecution say, he was a sexual predator.”
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he → say → ?
One woman alleged that Brand had raped her in a seaside hotel room in 1999, another said that he attempted to drag her into a men’s toilet in 2001 at the London office of music channel MTV, where they both worked.
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they → allege → MTV
A third alleged that Brand orally raped her in 2004 in the toilet of a London bar, and a fourth said Brand kissed and groped her at a London radio station in 2004 or 2005.
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Brand → allege → 2004
Another woman said Brand anally raped her at his home after she met him at one of his shows in 2009, while the sixth said Brand demanded a massage and pressed his face into her groin during the recording of an advertisement in 2009.
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Brand → say → 2009
Prosecutors said the women do not know one another and separately went to police after a TV documentary was broadcast in Britain in 2023.
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documentary → say → 2023
His appearances outside the court, holding hands with his wife and flanked by security guards, made daily headlines in the British press.
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appearances → hold → press
Last week, Brand took the stand and said the claims had made a “devastating” impact on his life, leaving him without a single friend or colleague who could testify on his behalf.
“My entire life has been consumed by these events,” he said inside court, adding later that dealing with the “traumatic” allegations had come “at the expense of my marriage, my children and health.”
uncertain
dealing → take → marriage
He admitted in court to being sex obsessed as a young and famous man.
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He → admit → man
“I have been persuasive, seductive, begging and flirting, and have dedicated a lot of my life to what seems now beyond reckless philandering and idiocy,” he told the court as he gave evidence last Wednesday.
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he → beg → evidence
As I became more successful and famous I was very comfortable allowing that to facilitate sexual access, which I agree was wrong,” he added.
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he → become → access
Brand also told the court: “Consent is fundamental, essential, necessary and indeed more important than sex itself.”
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Consent → tell → sex
Brand’s wife, Laura Gallacher, also made headlines when she testified last week, stating that he was a “caring, kind and a wonderful father.”
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he → make → headlines
The couple married in 2017 and have three young children.
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couple → marry → children
Brand and his wife have been posting videos online where they analyze bible verses together and discuss their broad experiences of the trial.
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they → post → trial
When the trial first got underway last month, Brand told a scrum of photographers and journalists that he felt “blessed.”
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he → get → photographers
He said he was “hopeful that this process will lead to good outcomes for everybody involved.”
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process → say → everybody
He added, “that’s my prayer.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.
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you → add → 4673
The hotline, run by the Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network (RAINN), can put you in contact with your local rape crisis center.
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hotline → run → center
You can also access RAINN’s online chat service at rainn.org/get-help.
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You → access → rainn.org/get-help
The Aporia
