Russell Brand made disturbing joke about writing ‘victims’ list’ during treatment for sex addiction
RUSSELL Brand made a disturbing joke about writing a “victims’ list” while he was receiving treatment for sex addiction.
Comedian and film star Brand, facing allegations of rape and sexual assault he denies, made light of his time in rehab in his own memoirs.
During sex addiction counselling he compared his past actions to former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein‘s onslaught against Kurdistan.
The Metropolitan Police has urged other potential victims to come forward after 48-year-old Brand faced multiple abuse accusations.
Brand posted a video to his own YouTube channel on Friday night denying any wrongdoing, before any allegations had yet been published.
The married dad-of-two told viewers he “absolutely refutes” the allegations and insisted past relationships were “always consensual”.
He admitted being “promiscuous” during the height of his fame, but he denied there was any criminal aspect to his behaviour.
Brand said he was facing a “litany of extremely egregious and aggressive attacks”.
He added: “Amidst this litany of astonishing, rather baroque attacks are some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute.”
The BBC and Channel 4 have both launched investigations into potential offences carried out while he was working for them.
Brand has described in his own books how he was asked to identify the multiple people involved in his sex addiction and responded: “I feel like Saddam Hussein trying to pick out individual Kurds.”
He wrote in his 2005 autobiography My Booky Wook how he reluctantly got help for sex addiction in 2005.
He said: “I didn’t want to go to that sexual treatment centre but all the do-gooders, they all insisted, and I sort of, kind of agreed.
“Just to shut everyone up, really, and for the same reason I gave up drink and drugs.
“Because my ambition is the most powerful force within me, so once people convinced me that my sexual behaviour might become damaging to my career, I found it easier to think of it as a flaw that needed to be remedied.”
He shared entries from a diary he kept while there, which included: “Had to write a victims’ list – a litany of the women I’ve wronged as a result of my sexual addiction.
“I feel like Saddam Hussein trying to pick out individual Kurds.”
Saddam, president of Iraq from 1979 until 2003, launched a military campaign against minority Kurds in 1988 which is thought to have killed between 50,000 and 100,000 people.
He was finally overthrown following the US– and UK-led invasion in 2003 and hanged three years later after being found guilty of crimes against humanity.
Brand’s first autobiography also shared a joke he made about rape and murder in a play, the Mirror reported.
He said: “If you say sorry, you can rape and murder as many people as you like.”
That comment came after performing in a play in which a character rapes and murders another – “but because he felt guilty about it in the afterlife he was basically let off”, Brand wrote in his 2005 book.
He said: “Mike played Adam who had raped and murdered Claudine’s character but because he felt guilty about it in the afterlife he was basically let off.
“So there was quite a powerful message – if you say sorry you can rape and murder as many people as you like.”
Brand has now been accused of rape, sexual assault and abuse by four women including one who was only 16 at the time.
Claims made in a joint investigation by The Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches include that he raped a woman against a wall at his Los Angeles apartment.
The four women say he attacked them between 2006 and 2013 at the height of his fame, when a presenter for BBC Radio 2 and Channel 4 as well as starring in Hollywood movies.
The allegations include not only rape and sexual assault but also emotional and physical abuse.