MORE women are said to have come forward with accusations against Russell Brand as Downing Street labelled the sex claims "serious and concerning".
A bombshell expose saw Brand, 48, this weekend accused of rape, sexual assault and abuse by four women.
But in the wake of the claims more alleged victims have contacted The Times with further accusations against the star.
Downing Street today described the sexual assault allegations against Brand as “very serious and concerning”.
BBC and Channel 4 have now launched an urgent probe into the allegations, with the Met Police urging any further potential victims to come forward.
Brand has vehemently denied the claims.
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He also took to his YouTube platform blasting the accusations before the claims were made public.
Brand insisted that while he was "promiscuous", his relationships had always been consensual.
He has been hit with accusations around controlling, abusive and predatory behaviour which were not investigated – but are now said to be being "rigorously checked".
A spokesperson for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak today waded in on the scandal, saying: "These are very serious and concerning allegations and the Met has asked anyone who believes they are a victim to come forward and speak to officers."
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They added: "I won't pre-judge that but they should present results of the findings transparently."
It came as John Noel, an ex-agent of Brand, today claimed he never received any complaints about the star – "other than turning up late".
The BBC and Channel 4 are also facing questions of allegedly not acting on the comedian's behaviour over the years, which was said to be an "open secret" within the broadcasters.
It comes as Caroline Nokes, Conservative chairwoman of the Commons women and equalities committee, said allegations were “incredibly shocking and criminal”.
She told The Times: “I would very much hope that complaints will be made both to the Metropolitan Police and indeed in the States, because this merits and needs a criminal investigation, because for too long we have seen men — and the perpetrators of these sorts of crimes are almost invariably men — not being held to account for their behaviours and their actions.”
The comedian's dad Ron Brand, 80, today defended his son.
MailOnline reported the man, who paid a prostitute so the comedian could lose his virginity, slammed the claims as "unproven".
It comes as…
- One alleged victim claimed the comedian sent a BBC car to pick her up
- A pal said wife Laura Gallacher is standing by Brand's side amid allegations
- The BBC and Channel 4 launch urgent probes into the star
- An alleged victim opens up about the time she claimed Brand raped her
The BBC was last night accused of "enabling" Brand's alleged behaviour.
One of the alleged victims, who says she was just 16 when she was "groomed" by Brand, claimed a BBC chauffeur would pick her up and take her to the star's home.
The woman, known as Alice, told The Times of the BBC car: "The first time I used it, he told me it was booked to take him to his radio show but he had a friend taking him instead so I should use that car.”
She said the BBC driver “took me to my grandma’s house one day from Russell’s house. And then when the car picked me up from school, it was the same car… I knew that that was a BBC car”.
The woman today slammed Brand's denial.
She told the Beeb: "I think it is insulting."
"It is laughable that he would even imply that it's a mainstream media conspiracy. He's not outside of mainstream media."
The BBC has said its current investigation “contained serious allegations, spanning a number of years".
It added: “Russell Brand worked on BBC radio programmes between 2006 and 2008 and we are urgently looking into the issues raised.”
BRAND'S SHOWS PULLED
The Times and Sunday Times say they have now been contacted by several women since Saturday with claims about Brand’s behaviour since the early 2000s.
Sources also told reporters that staff at the BBC had warned bosses about Brand’s behaviour at work at least three times.
The allegations included that he had exposed himself to a female employee and had sex with guests on his radio shows.
The Daily Telegraph reported Channel 4 has now pulled all shows linked to Brand from its website – including episodes of The Great British Bake Off and Big Brother's Big Mouth in which he was featured.
Netflix is now being urged to remove his comedy special, titled Re:Birth, from its platform.
It comes after production company Banijay UK, who ran Big Brother spin-off shows fronted by Brand in the early 2000s, launched a probe after similar allegations of misconduct emerged about his time at Channel 4.
'VERY SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS'
The company said: "In light of the very serious allegations…relating to the alleged serious misconduct of Russell Brand produced by Endomol between 2004 and 2005 Banijay UK has launched an urgent internal investigation.
"We also ask anyone who feels that they were affected by Brand's behaviour while working on these productions to contact us in confidence."
It comes after one of the woman accusing Brand of rape opened up about the alleged horror – labelling him a "demon".
The alleged victim revealed she broke her silence after becoming sickened by the comic’s new status as a wellness influencer with millions of followers.
The woman, known as Nadia, said: “He’s saying one thing and I know the demon underneath it. He wants to help with meditation — he’s all in this wellness world.
“It just makes me so mad that he has a platform for that.”
She added: “What do I want out of this? Just for him to stop. I’m sick of seeing men get away with this.”
Brand's alleged victims' claims range from rape to sexual assault, to emotional and physical abuse.
THE CLAIMS
Five women have alleged sexual assaults occurred between 2006 and 2013 in Britain and America, when Brand was working for BBC Radio 2, Channel 4 and starring in Hollywood films.
One woman claims she was a victim of an assault at Brand's home in 2013 after they met at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.
Another, Nadia, claimed that the comedian raped her up against a wall at his home in Los Angeles.
A third alleges he forced her to perform oral sex until she choked while she was just 16 and that she had to punch him in the stomach to make him stop.
A fourth woman accused him of sexually assaulting her as well as being both emotionally and physically abusive.
The fifth, Jordan Martin, claims he subjected her to emotional abuse, sexual abuse and made her brush her teeth so hard her gums bled.
The claims have sparked a string of accusations against the comedian – some which had been talked about over the years.
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In a resurfaced interview star Dannii Minogue claimed Brand “wouldn’t take no for an answer” and dubbed him a “vile predator”.
Another resurfaced clip saw the comedian bragging about kissing Meghan Markle on a film set.
Russell Brand’s denial in full
Hello there, you awakening wonders.
Now this isn't the usual type of video we make on this channel where we critique, attack and undermine the news in all its corruption because in this story I am the news.
I have received two extremely disturbing letters – well a letter and an email.
One from a mainstream media TV company, one from a newspaper, listing a litany of extremely egregious and aggressive attacks as well as some pretty stupid stuff – like my community festival should be stopped, that I shouldn't be able to attack mainstream media narratives on this channel.
But amidst this litany of astonishing, rather baroque, attacks are some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute. These allegations pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream – when I was in the newspapers all the time, when I was in the movies, and as I have written about extensively in my books I was very very promiscuous
Now during that time of promiscuity, the relationships I had were absolutely always consensual. I was always transparent about that then, almost too transparent. And I'm being transparent about it now as well.
And to see that transparency metastasized into something criminal that I absolutely deny makes me question is there another agenda at play?
Particularly when we have seen coordinated media attacks before – like with Joe Rogan when he dared to take a medicine that the mainstream media didn't approve of and we saw a spate of headlines from media outlets across the world using the same language.
I’m aware that you guys have been saying in the comments for a while ‘Watch out Russell, they are coming for you, you are getting too close to the truth, Russell Brand did not kill himself’.
I know that a year ago there was a spate of articles ‘Russell Brand is a conspiracy theorist, Russell Brand’s right wing’.
I’m aware of news media making phone calls, sending letters to people I know for ages and ages.
It’s been clear to me or at least it feels to me like there's a serious and concerted agenda to control these kind of spaces and these kind of voices and I mean my voice along with your voice.
I don't mind them using my books and my stand up to talk about my promiscuous consensual conduct in the past. What I seriously refute are these very very serious criminal allegations.
Also it’s worth mentioning that there are witnesses whose evidence directly contradicts the narratives that these two mainstream media outlets are trying to construct apparently in what seems to me to be a coordinated attack
Now I don't want to get into this any further because of the serious nature of the allegations, but I feel like I'm being attacked and plainly they are working very closely together
We are obviously going to look into this matter because it’s very, very serious. In the meantime I want you to stay close, stay awake but more important than any of that if you can, please, stay free.
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