The BBC published a bombshell report about their investigation into Russell Brand’s alleged history of sexual assault and inappropriate behavior while working for the network from 2006 to 2008.
“It is of great concern that some of these individuals felt unable to raise concerns about Russell Brand’s behaviour at the time, and the BBC has apologised to them as part of this review,” the BBC said in a statement Thursday following their more than one-year probe.
The network then owned up to its own shortcomings, adding, “It is also clear that there were compliance inadequacies on some of Russell Brand’s Radio 2 shows which led to content being aired that would not be broadcast today. Russell Brand left the BBC in 2008 following a high-profile editorial breach.”
Peter Johnston, the BBC’s director of editorial complaints and reviews, spearheaded the investigation, which looked into eight separate misconduct complaints. He published his findings in a 15-page report.
Johnston noted in the documents that he looked into a claims made by a woman — who goes by the pseudonym Olivia — who alleged that Brand exposed himself to her in the bathroom of a BBC building in Los Angeles back in June 2008.
“I turned around, and in my eyesight was a man’s groin in black pants. I was startled. And I got up, and I realized it was Russell,” she told BBC News in September 2023, when she first made the claims public.
Olivia also noted at the time that Brand joked about the alleged incident when he was on the air shortly after it occurred, with his then-co-host Matt Morgan quipping on a BBC show, “It’s been 25 minutes since he showed his willy to a lady.”
Johnston said he spoke with Olivia as part of his review and found her to be credible, stating that he learned the alleged incident was “fairly common knowledge in the LA Bureau of the BBC at the time and over subsequent years.”
He said it was once escalated to management in 2019 but nothing was done because, in his opinion, “those involved in escalating the complaint in 2019 felt that there was nothing that could be done as it was over ten years later and Russell Brand had left the BBC in 2008.”
Johnston also noted the “compliance process in place for pre-recorded shows around the time of the original broadcast did not do what it was supposed to” in airing Brand’s banter about what occurred.
The BBC director, however, was not able to fully corroborate another accuser’s allegations.
The woman, who uses the monicker Alice, previously claimed she dated Brand when she was just 16 — while he was a presenter for the BBC — and that he allegedly used the network’s company cars to have her picked up from school or her grandmother’s house.
Johnston wrote in his report that he interviewed Alice and that she “distinctly remembers the driver being smartly dressed, wearing a cap and that the car and driver which took her from school was similar.”
However, the director found that it is “highly unlikely that the cars described by Alice were ‘chauffeur driven’ BBC cars or BBC Management cars” because those vehicles, in particular, were “assigned to a
specific, named senior BBC executive and were not available to Russell Brand.”
Johnston also broke down claims Brand behaved inappropriately in the workplace in his detailed report.
He wrote that a formal complaint was made in 2007 that claimed the “Get Him to the Greek” star allegedly urinated into a cup or bottle during two separate recordings of a Radio 2 show.
“I have also heard other allegations of general inappropriate behaviour by Russell Brand including allegations of: sex in toilets/on BBC premises; exposure in the studio; and inappropriate engagement with competition winners,” Johnston also claimed in the report.
The director also noted another alleged sexual assault incident that occurred while Brand was a staffer.
“We were also provided with a first-hand account by another individual of a non-consensual encounter with Russell Brand on the set of a BBC radio production during the period of his engagement by the BBC,” Johnston alleged in the report.
“The individual informed the review team that when passing Russell Brand in a corridor while speaking to him, Russell Brand tucked his fingers down their trousers and underwear and pulled them towards him.”
This accuser reportedly did not make a formal complaint with the BBC when the alleged incident occurred.
Johnston claimed that many were hesitant to come forward because they felt there “was no point in complaining as they believed they would not be listened to and, rightly or wrongly,” which is why he “can find no evidence” that most of this alleged behavior “was raised with management formally at the time.”
Johnston said that Brand did not agree to participate in his review but that he has vehemently denied the allegations made about him in the past.
Page Six has also reached out to a rep for the “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” star for comment.
Brand, 49, said in September 2023 — ahead of a damning exposé that included multiple rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse allegations — that he “absolutely” refuted those claims.
“[It] makes me question, ‘Is there another agenda at play?’ Particularly when we’ve seen coordinated media attacks before,” he pondered via Instagram at the time.
“It feels to me like there is a serious and concerted agenda to control these kinds of spaces and these kinds of voices.”
Police in London launched an investigation into the comedian, and although he has not yet been criminally charged, the authorities reportedly recommended that prosecutors do so.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-330-0226.
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