Emily Maitlis says Russell Brand's response to question about daughter is 'chilling' after rape conviction
Warning: This article contains discussion of rape and sexual assault which some readers may find distressing.
Russell Brand was once asked what his daughter would think of his lifestyle, and the interviewer said that it's 'pretty chilling to listen back to that now'.
Southwark Crown Court heard yesterday (5 November) that he had been found guilty of raping a fan he'd met after a show at the Hammersmith Apollo in 2009, and guilty of sexually assaulting a woman at a bar in Soho in 2004.
He was also found guilty of sexual assault in 2004 or 2005 at Choice FM, and of sexually assaulting a woman working on a project at Channel 4 in 2009.
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Back in 2017, he'd been interviewed on Newsnight by Emily Maitlis before the allegations against him had been made public, and she'd asked him about his promiscuous lifestyle.
Speaking to Brand after he'd released a book, where he described how he'd got married and had a daughter following a reputation for promiscuity, she asked him what he'd think if his daughter had met someone like him.
"When you look back at that promiscuous lifestyle, do you think does that appal you?" she'd asked Brand on the BBC news show back in 2017.
"Do you think, 'God, I was disgusting?' Do you look at your daughter now and think, 'I hope she never meets Russell Brand when she grows up?'"
His response, which she has described as 'pretty chilling', had him saying he didn't 'get all worked up' about the past and he thought he'd 'amended' for what he'd done before.
He'd said: "Emily, don't get so worked up about it. It's only a rhetorical device. Does it appal you?
"No, my dear. I don't look back at the past and get all worked up about it like Ebenezer Scrooge. I simply think those are some things I've done. I've amended for them.
"And as for the likelihood of some sort of Faustian kick up the a** from future Russell, if my daughter meets somebody who's caring and sensitive and knows how to communicate, then I think that will be a good thing."
Reflecting on Brand's case on The News Agents this week, Maitlis said: "It is a story of sexual abuse we have now heard so many times of frankly men who have become so powerful and so entitled that no one dares speak out against them."
Brand had denied all of the charges arrayed against him, telling the court during his trial that acting like a 'crazy idiot' towards women wasn't a crime.
He had said: "It is not criminal to treat women unkindly before, during or after sex. It is not, I am afraid, criminal to be disrespectful or rude or to act like a crazy idiot.
"If there is consent it is lawful."
His lawyer had tried to claim that Brant had 'an immense amount of sex and none of it was unlawful', but the jury ruled he was guilty on four of the seven counts against him.
He was found not guilty of two counts of rape and one count of indecent assault.
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence, contact the Rape Crisis England and Wales helpline on 0808 500 222, available 24/7. If you are currently in danger or need urgent medical attention, you should call 999.
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence, contact The Survivors Trust for free on 08088 010 818, available 10am-12.30pm, 1.30pm-3pm and 6pm-8pm Monday to Thursday, 10am-12.30pm and 1.30pm-3pm on Fridays, 10am-12.30pm on Saturdays and 6pm-8pm on Sundays.
Topics: UK News, Russell Brand, Crime
Joe Harker
