Seven questions BBC MUST answer on Russell Brand from ‘ignoring warnings to spending public money on teen girlfriend’
THE BBC is facing questions over alleged rapist and sexual abuser Russell Brand, including claims bosses ignored warnings about him and spent public money on a teenage girlfriend.
Both the corporation and Channel 4 have opened investigations after comedian and film star Brand was accused of rape and sexual assault in a joint investigation by The Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches.
Brand has strenuously denied the allegations.
Bosses have been accused of turning “a blind eye” to warnings.
The BBC faces seven key questions over its handling of Brand and the concerns raised about him.
Was a BBC chauffeur sent to pick up a teen girlfriend from school?
It was reported today that Brand used the BBC’s car service to collect a 16-year-old girl from her school so she could play truant and visit him at her home.
The woman being referred to as Alice told the joint investigation that Brand groomed and sexually assaulted her when she was a teenager.
She today recalled going to and from his north London home in a chauffeur-driven car she suggested was paid for by the corporation.
She said: “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.
Alice told how the 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”.
Brand’s alleged relationship with the teenager is said to have happened in 2006, while he was presenting a show on BBC 6 Music.
Why did BBC boss Mark Thompson tell Parliament there were no obvious previous warning signs before Sachsgate?
Brand was sacked by the BBC in October 2008 after he and co- presenter Jonathan Ross made prank calls to late Fawlty Towers star Andrew Sachs live on Radio 2.
The pair left lewd messages about Brand sleeping with the veteran actor’s granddaughter Georgina Baillie.
The corporation issued an apology to Sachs and his family but then-director general Mark Thompson said there had been no previous concerns about Brand’s weekly show on the station.
He was questioned in November 2008 by MPs on the Commons culture, media and sport select committee at the height of the so-called “Sachsgate” furore.
Mr Thompson insisted then: “On the programme in question, The Russell Brand Show, there is good evidence of tight compliance procedures for previous editions of this programme.
“The programme had been running for two years and won a Sony Gold Award because of its quality and had proceeded for a long time without any issues.
“I you just look at The Russell Brand Show – although, my goodness me, it has got some quite edgy material in it, the compliance procedures seem to be working.
“Now, the compliance procedures in this episode of The Russell Brand Show failed and they failed at a senior level, and there are lessons to learn from that.
“But all I would say is that, even if you look at The Russell Brand Show and the management of this show, I do not think you can go back as it were through the audit trail and say, even of this programme, that it was obvious that it was an accident waiting to happen.”
Mr Thompson was BBC director-general from June 2004 to September 2012.
Why did Lesley Douglas not act on complaints about his behaviour?
It has now been revealed that complaints had earlier been made to BBC chiefs about Brand’s behaviour in the Radio 2 studio.
He is alleged to have exposed his genitals to colleagues and guests — with one appearing to be a minor — while urinating into a bottle.
Staff say a serious complaint was made to station controller Lesley Douglas but there was no formal action taken.
Ms Douglas was controller of BBC Radio 2 and 6 Music from 2004 until her resignation in October 2008 following the “Sachsgate” affair.
Why did the BBC not act on his comments about a colleague?
Brand has also been accused of repeatedly directing sexual comments towards newsreader Andrea Simmons when presenting his weekly Radio 2 show.
While live on air he called her a “sex bomb” and “erotic” while also saying he wanted to “go under the desk” while she was reading the news.
Brand himself indicated she was not happy and had told senior producers but nothing appeared to be done in response, according to The Times’s investigation.
Why was no action taken over competition winner claims?
Brand hinted in his autobiography My Booky Wook that he had sex with competition winners in the toilets during his earlier time as a presenter on BBC 6 Music.
Brand wrote: “There was an additional aspect to the prize which could never be explicitly stated due to the BBC’s rigid policy prohibiting the misuse of the disabled lavvy.”
Yet again no action appeared to have been taken.
Why was he not fired over Savile comments?
Brand phoned Jimmy Savile on air in May 2007 and joked about sending his personal assistant to conduct a naked interview with the later-disgraced TV and radio presenter.
Brand told him at the time: “I’ve got a personal assistant and part of her job description is that anyone I demand she greet, meet, massages, she has to do it.
“She’s very attractive, Jimmy.”
The interview came four years before Savile‘s death, after which he was revealed to be a serial paedophile.
Why was he welcomed back to flagship programmes after he was dropped?
Despite Brand being fired by the BBC in 2008 over the “Sachsgate” controversy, he has returned to make various appearances on the corporation’s channels since then.
His appearance as a team captain on BBC Two music comedy panel show Never Mind The Buzzcocks was filmed in 2008 before the Radio 2 controversy but not broadcast until January 2011.
Brand has since been interviewed by Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight in 2013 and then by Evan Davis on the same programme the following year.
He was also a panellist on a December 2014 edition of BBC One‘s Question Time, in which he labelled fellow guest Nigel Farage “a pound shop Enoch Powell“.
He also responded to Conservative MP Penny Mordaunt‘s praise for firefighters by telling her: “Pay their pensions then, love.
“Excuse the sexist language – I’m working on it.”
A BBC spokesperson has said in response to the new allegations about Brand: “The documentary and associated reports contained serious allegations, spanning a number of years.
“Russell Brand worked on BBC radio programmes between 2006 and 2008 and we are urgently looking into the issues raised.”
The corporation previously said over the weekend: “Russell Brand worked for a number of different organisations of which the BBC was one.
“As is well known, Russell Brand left the BBC after a serious editorial breach in 2008 – as did the then-controller of Radio 2.
“The circumstances of the breach were reviewed in detail at the time. We hope that demonstrates that the BBC takes issues seriously and is prepared to act.
“Indeed, the BBC has, over successive years, evolved its approach to how it manages talent and how it deals with complaints or issues raised.
“We have clear expectations around conduct at work, these are set out in employment contracts, the BBC Values, the BBC Code of Conduct and the Anti-Bullying and Harassment Policy.
“We will always listen to people if they come forward with any concerns, on any issue related to any individual working at the BBC, past or present.”
The corporation today told The Sun Online the BBC had made “extensive changes to working practices”.
Recent developments include a “Respect At Work Review”, a new “Support At Work” team handling bullying and harassment allegations and reforms to safeguarding, training and whistleblowing policies.
All employees are offered access to an independent Bullying and Harassment helpline, providing free, confidential and external support in raising concerns.
Lawyers representing Ms Douglas said: “Ms Douglas did not at any time encourage, enable and/or fail herself to take any adequate steps within her power with regard to the conduct of Russell Brand of which she was aware.
“She is presently unable to provide any further information which may be relevant to the matters raised in this article due to the obligations owed by her to her former employer.”
Brand has denied any wrongdoing.
The married dad-of-two posted a video on Friday night to his own YouTube channel, before the claims had yet been published.
He said he “absolutely refutes” the accusations and described his previous relationships as “always consensual”.
Brand admitted he was “promiscuous” at the height of his fame, but denied there was ever any criminal element to his behaviour.
Other BBC stars who have faced accusations
The BBC’s flagship news presenter Huw Edwards was named by his wife in July as the suspended presenter at the centre of a scandal.
The corporation said they were investigating serious allegations against the star, including claims he paid thousands of pounds to a vulnerable youngster with a spiralling drug addiction.
The Metropolitan Police announced they were taking no action, finding no “criminal offence has been committed”.
The force also revealed that month that had interviewed former BBC radio DJ Tim Westwood for a third time under caution over alleged sex offences.
The offences – which Westwood vehemently denies – are alleged to have happened between 1982 and 2016.
Westwood hosted rap shows on BBC stations including Radio 1 from 1994 to 2013.
One of the biggest scandal’s in the BBC’s history came after the death of one of its longest-serving radio and TV presenters Jimmy Savile in October 2011.
The former Top Of The Pops and Jim’ll Fix It host was posthumously revealed to have been a serial paedophile and sex offender.
A Newsnight investigation into his crimes was due to be broadcast on BBC2’s Newsnight in December 2011 but was pulled from the schedules.
Later that month the BBC broadcast two Christmas tributes to Savile.
ITV ran a programme about Savile’s offences in September 2012, two months before a BBC-commissioned review found the corporation’s decision not to broadcast their own Newsnight story was “flawed”.