Russell Brand's rape trial opens in London with accusers' testimony on 15 and 16 October

Trial opens and charges

Jury selection began on 12 October at Southwark Crown Court in London, where Russell Brand is on trial. Brand, who was charged in 2025, has pleaded not guilty and denies all the charges. Reports differ on the exact counts: the BBC and the Guardian describe three counts of rape, three of sexual assault and one of indecent assault against six women, while another account lists seven charges, including one of oral rape. The case grew out of allegations that four women made to The Sunday Times and Channel 4 in 2023 about separate incidents between 1999 and 2005, and two more alleged victims came forward after charges were filed. Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones KC told the court Brand was 'ruthless, calculating, manipulative' and described him as a 'sexual predator'. Outside the courthouse on 14 October, Brand told journalists he felt blessed and concerned but hopeful.

“I feel blessed. I feel, of course, concerned but hopeful that this process will lead to good outcomes for everybody involved.”

First complainant's evidence

On 15 October the first complainant gave evidence, alleging that in 1999 Brand forced himself on her at a Labour Party conference in Bournemouth and raped her in a hotel room after a cabaret show. Jurors watched a recording of her 2023 police interview, in which she said he pushed her onto the bed and pulled off her clothes. She told the court she could not struggle or breathe. She also said Brand asked her to take half-naked photographs of him in the room, and the prosecution presented those photographs as evidence. The judge intervened during a tense exchange with the defence barrister, according to the BBC's trial coverage.

Second complainant at MTV

On 16 October another woman testified about an incident in 2001 at MTV's London offices, where she was working. She said Brand, whom she recognised as a flagship presenter, had been friendly until he took hold of her forearm with a forceful grip and pleaded with her to come into a toilet with him. She said she broke free and was too frightened to report it, because Brand was a big asset to the channel and she had a mortgage to pay. She told two colleagues but did not go to the police until she saw a 2023 documentary that accused Brand of sexual misconduct. Defence barrister Ian Winter KC cross-examined her, and the Guardian reported that she had reassessed the events.

Support from the MAHA movement

POLITICO reports that Brand appeared onstage at a Make America Healthy Again summit in Washington in early October, alongside Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and posed for a photo with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Tony Lyons, head of the MAHA political action committee, attended the courthouse in support. On 14 October Brand spoke on Lyons' regular conference call for movement activists, and Lyons introduced him with these words:

“He's been falsely accused, he's been vilified, persecuted, deplatformed, demonetized, censored, prosecuted.”

None of Brand's attorney, Lyons, or spokespeople for Oz, Kennedy or President Donald Trump responded to requests for comment.

Brand's position

In a video posted to X last year, Brand said that in his youth he had been a drug addict, a sex addict and an imbecile, but that he had never been a rapist. On Lyons' call he said he believed in truth, justice and redemption as a follower of Christ. POLITICO reports that he has said any sex he had was consensual. During the trial he has kept posting clips of his podcast to social media, and he described the proceedings as an extraordinary and stressful situation. The trial continues at Southwark Crown Court.