Russell Brand Appears In London Court Via Videolink From Florida Charged With Two More Sexual Offences

Russell Brand was granted bail today on two further sexual offence charges as he appeared in court via videolink from his Florida home.

Brand spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth, according to reports, before he was given bail. He will next appear at a plea hearing at London’s Southwark Crown Court on February 17.

He appeared via videolink from Florida. He has a house in Oxfordshire, UK, but has been living in the U.S. full time of late and has been very much involved with the ‘MAGAsphere’, having been reported to have attended events at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. An extradition battle had been anticipated when he was initially charged with his first set of offences although he has been to London for a plea hearing on these other charges.

Brand was charged with two additional counts of rape and sexual assault in December last year. They are on top of previous charges, which were two of rape, one of indecent assault and two of sexual assault. For those, he has pled not guilty and his trial begins over the summer.

Detectives started investigating Brand more than two years ago following a high-profile Channel 4 and Sunday Times investigation. They then charged the former comedian and TV presenter with one count of rape, one count of indecent assault, one count of oral rape and two counts of sexual assault.

The initial revelations on Channel 4 and in the Sunday Times led to much anger and introspection. Since then, the BBC, Channel 4 and Big Brother producer Banijay have all conducted internal investigations, having worked with Brand on shows up until late last decade. All these probes have led to apologies and further revelations. The most recent report from the BBC found that staff at the UK broadcaster’s L.A. bureau had “joked about” an incident in which the star was alleged to have exposed himself to a woman in a bathroom. Channel 4’s report unearthed “two new worrying allegations” against Brand, who had worked on that network’s Celebrity Bake Off as recently as 2018. Brand was also accused in a lawsuit of sexually assaulting a film extra on the New York City set of the 2011 romantic comedy Arthur.