Russell Brand has told a court he had an obsession with sex as a younger man but denied setting himself a “goal” to sleep with 5,000 women.
asserted
he → tell → women
The former comedian, 51, said as he gave evidence in his rape trial that he had never forced himself on a woman, telling jurors consent was “non-negotiable” and “more important than sex itself”.
asserted
consent → say → sex
Brand said he blamed the media for his downfall after being the focus of reporting on sexual misconduct claims, and told Southwark crown court he had been unable to find any friends or former colleagues willing to give evidence in his defence as the trial approached.
uncertain
trial → say → defence
He has been accused by six women of sexual assaults between 1999 and 2009, including rape in a hotel room and sexual assaults in a bar, at a radio station and at Channel 4.
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He → accuse → Channel
The court heard he stored the number of a fan who has accused him of rape with the letter “T” next to her name, meaning “tart”.
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who → hear → tart
Under intense questioning from the prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones KC, Brand denied pretending to be gay in his pursuit of women.
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Brand → deny → women
The comedian’s former friend Mark Pinheiro had told the trial Brand had boasted on a car journey to the Labour party conference in Bournemouth about his techniques for “pulling” women and allegedly revealed an ambition to sleep with 5,000 women.
uncertain
Brand → tell → women
Karmy-Jones asked Brand: “Is it a goal you may have had?”
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you → ask → Brand
He replied: “I don’t agree, I don’t recall the conversation you are referring to.”
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you → reply → conversation
When pressed again, he replied: “No, not a goal.”
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he → press → ?
But Brand admitted he was “obsessed” with sex in his younger years.
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he → admit → years
Karmy-Jones asked him: “Do you accept that you were desperate for it and sometimes couldn’t function without it?”
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you → ask → it
“No,” Brand said.
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Brand → say → ?
The prosecutor said Brand had not answered police questions when first challenged over the claims and accused him of “forging” his case around the evidence of his alleged victims, a suggestion he rejected.
uncertain
he → say → suggestion
At times, Brand went completely silent when Karmy-Jones posed a question, leading her to ask whether he found the questions “difficult to answer”.
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questions → go → her
Turning to Pinheiro’s claims about their car journey conversation, and the suggestion he wanted to sleep with 5,000 women, he said: “While I don’t remember, it’s entirely possible it’s the kind of badinage I would have engaged in when I was 24.”
uncertain
I → turn → badinage
He added that it would have been a “joke” if he had told Pinheiro he would not leave a situation with a woman without a conquest.
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he → add → conquest
“That sounds specifically like a riff on a Woody Allen joke when he said the only advice my dad ever gave me on his death bed was ‘always try and f*** the waitress’.”
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dad → sound → waitress
On the Bournemouth trip, Brand is accused of raping a woman he met on the last night of a week of performances of the Soapbox Cabaret, an event staged on the fringes of the 1999 Labour party conference.
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he → accuse → conference
Brand told the court he had been “pretty excited” to go to the conference, at a time before he was famous, but conceded he was “more interested in having sex than the show”.
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he → tell → show
It was suggested Brand had pretended to be gay in order to convince the woman he is accused of raping to let him join her in her hotel room.
uncertain
him → suggest → room
Karmy-Jones then produced a page from Brand’s book My Booky Wook, which featured a picture of him aged seven with the caption: “This is the exact moment when I decided to act gay to attract girls.
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I → produce → girls
It took 15 years to produce results.”
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It → take → results
“Is that what you did Mr Brand?
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you → do → what
Pretend to be gay to attract women?” asked the prosecutor.
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prosecutor → pretend → women
“No,” Brand replied.
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Brand → reply → ?
He then added: “It’s a joke.
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It → add → ?
‘Look at me, I’m a little boy in my garden and 15 years later … I was meeting women.’
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I → look → women
Among the allegations Brand faces is that he raped a fan after meeting her at one of his Hammersmith Apollo stand-up performances in 2009.
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he → face → 2009
He told the court he stored her name next to the letter T, which he said stood for “tart”.
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he → tell → tart
The woman alleges Brand forced himself on her during an encounter at his north London townhouse, a few days after she had willingly engaged in a threesome with the star backstage at the Apollo.
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she → allege → Apollo
Asked what he meant by the word “tart”, he replied: “That was what I used to denote casual hookups.”
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I → ask → hookups
He also put two asterisks next to the woman’s name, which he told the jury meant: “Never, ever forget this individual, this is a memorable encounter.”
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this → put → individual
Brand is accused of anally raping the woman when she came to his home.
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she → accuse → home
He said in evidence he was “excited and enthusiastic” before their meeting, and he believed she was consenting because of how she had behaved during the backstage threesome.
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she → say → threesome
He suggested the woman had not said “no” or told him to stop during sex, and described her attitude as “coquettishness, coyness”.
uncertain
woman → suggest → coyness
He said the encounter was consensual.
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encounter → say → ?
He said he could not remember exchanging texts with the woman months later during a chance encounter at the Edinburgh festival, but accepted it was possible he had messaged to say he wanted to “push you further”.
uncertain
he → say → you
He said he may have been intimating they could “have sex more, maybe have another threesome”, and conceded he may have said “sorry” when she told him he had treated her “like an animal”.
uncertain
he → say → animal
But he told the court the apology would have been because she “expressed sadly, unhappiness, regret”.
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she → tell → regret
…and 4 more, not listed.
The Aporia
