British comedian and actor Russell Brand is facing charges of rape and sexual assault for alleged incidents that happened more than 20 years ago.
The charges were filed on Friday and were announced by the Crown Prosecution Service.
A police investigation was launched after several women spoke to two UK media outlets — The Sunday Times and Channel 4 — in September 2023.
The four women have not been identified but said that the alleged assaults took place between 1999 and 2005.
Brand, 50, has denied the allegations, saying that relationships he has had were “always consensual.”
At the time of The Sunday Times and Channel 4 joint investigation, Brand said in a social media video, that the British media was subjecting him to “a litany of extremely egregious and aggressive attacks.”
The “Rock of Ages” actor has recently been living and working in the U.S. full time. He has frequently been seen in online videos that combine wellness and conspiracy theories.
Brand will appear in court on May 2.
This is not the first time Brand has faced assault charges. He was accused in a civil lawsuit of sexually assaulting a film extra on the set of “Arthur” during filming in 2010. She said that he had exposed himself to her and in full view of the cast and crew when he appeared intoxicated, “smelled of alcohol, and was carrying a bottle of vodka on set.” The same woman claimed Brand assaulted her in a bathroom as “a member of the production crew guarded the door from the outside.”
Brand’s lawyer in that case said the bottle was a prop from the movie and that the woman had “faulty memory of the events” 13 years after they allegedly happened, adding that his client had not used alcohol or drugs for about eight years before the alleged incident.
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