Our Relationship with Russell Brand

A filthy man. But, we all knew that, didn't we?

In the 2000s, he was our loveable rascal. With his heavy Essex accent, and flamboyant mannerisms and loquacious style of speaking, he was an interesting contradiction. An acceptable and articulate connection to the working class. He was a guest on countless British variety shows of the 2000s and hobnobbed with all the major TV celebrities of the time.

From watching the news this week, it appears a LOT of people had relationships with Russell Brand back in the 2000s. Countless people in the entertainment industry have come out to raise their hands and share their stories. These people benefited from their position adjunct to his celebrity in the past, and now, many are benefiting with a few minutes of media exposure by taking part in the whirlwind of his rapid downfall.

Four women who had relationships with, and very bad experiences of, Russell Brand, including one who was just 16, told their stories anonymously to investigative reporters at The Sunday Times, The Times, and Channel 4 Dispatches.

The head of The Times investigation team, Paul Morgan-Bentley, covers the allegations concisely in an 18-minute audio interview with Niall Paterson at Sky News:

There's a good chance you know the allegations already. Within days, this has become, as so many things these days, an us-versus-them debate. Before I get to that, I want to cover:

Two Unbelievable Facts

1. Russell Brand had a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old child, and used BBC paid cars to transport her from school to his apartment. People in his management company knew of this relationship and cautioned him to keep it secret.
2. In the UK Legal System, it is legal for an adult to carry on a consensual sexual relationship with a 16-year-old. Outrageous, isn't it?! Someone update that law, please.

My own relationship with Russell Brand is based solely on watching his appearances on British TV variety shows in the 2000s. Entertaining at times, yes, but with his outrageous sexual aggressiveness, I thought to myself, there is the type of man I would never want my daughters to meet.

I feel UK celebrity culture is more 'laddish' than America. Boys will be boys is a more accepted concept there. A few years later, I watched Russell Brand make the move to Hollywood to appear in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. His persona didn't really fit the film. Even back then, I didn't see Hollywood working out for him. I join the vast crowd of people who are sharing the doubts they had about Russell Brand back in the 2000s, but didn't bother to talk about it at the time.

Synopsis of the Left/Right media spin:

Liberal Media: Judging from the weight of the testimony and the thoroughness of The Times investigation, Russell Brand is undeniably guilty of sexual abuse. His conduct is indefensible, and for the justice of women, he must be punished. To all doubter of the authenticity of the allegations, we would like to stress that it was the media, and not the justice system, that stopped Harvey Weinstein.

Conservative Media: Everyone knew Russell was sexually aggressive (he had said so himself in countless interviews and standup jokes), so why have these victims stepped forward now, 15 years later, after Russell has become a right-wing commentator on YouTube? And what about (insert any number of celebrities) whose behavior is known to be as equally horrid that have escaped the media spotlight.

Can both sides of the political aisle, be correct at the same time? In this case, very likely yes. Let's take Russell down. And then find another half dozen celebrities enabled by the system, who were as equally bad (I'm sure they are easy to find). And put them on the same leaky rowboat headed toward a prison cell.

You are probably feeling outraged about something I wrote. That's perfectly normal. Have a coffee break and take your dog for a walk before leaving your thoughts in the comment section.

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A Wild Academic Tangent

For a deep dive into why we can feel so angry about opinions that we read on social media, Max Fisher, New York Times journalist and author of 'The Chaos Machine', explains an interesting theory about it through a long meandering tale about a Siberian lady who raised domesticated foxes in the 1950s: