LONDON — British comedian and actor Russell Brand has been found guilty of rape and sexual assault in a London court on 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. Ultimately he was found guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault. He ⁠was acquitted of ⁠the other charges.

He had pleaded not guilty to all counts and consistently denied all of the allegations.

The judge, Justice Joel Bennathan, told Brand the consequence of the verdicts is a “significant custodial term” and said he would have to remain in prison until he is formally sentenced on Monday.

“You’ve been convicted of a number of offenses including rape,” Bennathan said, adding that Brand inevitably faced a “significant” prison sentence.

The maximum sentence for rape is life imprisonment and 10 years for one count of sexual assault, according to Britain’s Sentencing Council.

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[–] 3 points 1 day ago (1 child)

I find this really really fucking chilling. I was a big fan of his right from his early days. His hypersexuality was part of his schtick. He didnt hide it. The signs were always right there but fuck me did I realise what I was looking at. It was so obvious.

Its been said that (in the industry) 'everyone knew'. I feel like other media personalities covered him in a "oh Russell, you're terrible!" kind of way. I even remember a celebrity (think it was Davina McCall) on TV explaining that he was like that cos he replaced his heroin addiction with a sex addiction. She worked with him for years, she must've known!!

Its chilling because he's not Rolf Harris or Jimmy Saville, I witnessed his career in its entirety.

I hope the fucker rots in prison.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 day ago

    Yeah, me too. There was a time around an election when he was so articulate and really pushed an inclusive agenda. Then I left the UK and didn’t hear about him until finding out he’d gone far right populist bullshit around COVID times. Now this.

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