Comedian Russell Brand convicted of rape, sexual assault in U.K.

The court in London has found comedian Russell Brand guilty of rape and sexual assault. Now, first, a warning for our viewers. There are some potentially distressing and triggering details tied to today's verdict. With that, I do want to bring in CBC senior entertainment correspondent Griffin Yeager. So we've seen a conviction here now of Russell Brand. Let's go through some of those details. Yes, so as we know, Russell Brand was facing seven charges total. As for the guilty verdict, I'll run it through for you. He has been found guilty of one count of rape. That's involving an incident that occurred in winter and spring of 2009 at his home in Hampstead, as well as three counts of sexual assault charges and allegations dating back more than 20 years. That's involving multiple women, one sexual assault in the summer of 2004. That's during a party in Soho, another as well in the summer of 2004 or 2005, and a third for assaulting a complainant in 2009 when she was working on a project for Channel 4. As for what he was acquitted of, he was acquitted of two. Rape counts today and one count of attempted indecent assault. Now, for those who don't know Russell Brand, he rose to fame sort of in the early 2000s. You might remember from film roles in things like Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek, also a brief marriage to Katy Perry. He then left the mainstream media and he started to post videos online, amassing a very large following on content related to what he called wellness, others referred to as conspiracy theories, religious devotion. Back to today, there was a jury of eight men and four women in London's Crown Court. They deliberated for more than eight hours over two days and in court today the judge did say that he would receive a prison term. Now a court prosecutor called Brand quote, a ruthless, calculating, manipulative, sexual, And throughout the trial, Brand denied the charges and testified that he was obsessed with sex as a young man and once led a very promiscuous life, but never forced anyone to do something against their will. These allegations actually first surfaced in the UK through a joint media investigation in 2020-23. Police then laid charges two years later, and here we are today. Now, I want to pull up a clip from David Roberts from the Crown Prosecution Service. Here's what he said today following the verdict. A lifelong impact of these vile crimes cannot be underestimated. I'm pleased today that justice has been served for these victims. The evidence showed Brand to be a calculated sexual predator using his growing fame and power to create situations in which he could pursue women sexually regardless of what they wanted. CBC News has also reached out to legal representatives for Russell Brand, but has not heard back yet. OK, so we know the conviction has come down. We've heard from the lawyers and from also police. What happens next? Yeah, so as for today, following that sentence that we just read, Brand was denied bail and remanded into custody, and he will receive his sentence in a hearing on Monday. Now, just for some knowledge, the BBC is actually also reporting that Brand is being investigated for two other alleged rape allegations. The Metropolitan Police told the British outlet that this investigation into those allegations remains ongoing, and they've actually already spoken to Brand about it Okay, more to come. Thank you for this. That is the CBC's Griffin Yeager reporting.