- Published
Warning: This article contains graphic descriptions of sexual acts
No British celebrity navigated the cultural changes of the early 21st Century better than Russell Brand.
His life has been one long personal rebrand.
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life → publish → Brand
He morphed from provocative stand-up comic to TV star and Hollywood actor.
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He → morph → star
He became a YouTuber and political activist, taking up left-wing causes around issues of inequality in the 2010s, then Covid conspiracies and in 2024 supporting Donald Trump for President.
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He → become → President
That same year he was baptised as a Christian in London's River Thames.
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he → baptise → Thames
Now he has a new persona to try on: convicted rapist.
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he → have → persona
On Thursday, the disgraced comedian was found guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault at Southwark Crown Court, following a three-week trial.
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comedian → find → trial
As he faces jail, it's clear that the behaviour that formed the backdrop to Brand's prosecution is the same behaviour that helped elevate him in the first place.
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that → face → place
Brand shot to fame as a sexually outrageous libertine whose risque humour thrilled audiences.
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humour → shoot → audiences
He cultivated the image of an insatiable, shameless womaniser.
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He → cultivate → womaniser
Over the decade of his offending, Brand sold out stand-up comedy venues and theatres, broadcasters - including MTV, Channel 4 and the BBC - started to throw money at him.
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broadcasters → sell → him
With his backcombed hair and drainpipe black jeans, Brand regaled audiences at his stand-up comedy gigs with the graphic details of his sexual exploits: anal sex, prostitutes and orgies.
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Brand → regale → exploits
He simulated masturbation and sex on stage.
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He → simulate → stage
He said he liked oral sex with women "where it goes in their neck a little bit" and their "mascara runs a little bit," acting it out on stage.
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mascara → say → stage
Even Brand's own barrister called the humour "a product of its time," reminding the jury in the trial that this graphic sexualised comedy was viewed as "radical and different" back then.
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comedy → call → trial
Barely a generation later, many will view it as deeply rooted misogyny dressed up as humour.
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many → view → humour
An era that celebrated casual sexism
The late nineties and early noughties in Britain were an era that celebrated casual sexism and often elevated celebrities who espoused it.
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who → celebrate → it
In 1999, FHM projected a naked photo of the Scottish TV presenter Gail Porter on to the Houses of Parliament.
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FHM → project → Parliament
She only found out when she saw it on the news, and spoke later about how it deeply affected her mental health.
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it → find → health
What might now be termed toxic masculinity was often deemed funny, seen by some as good old-fashioned male humour.
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termed → term → humour
By others it was viewed as palatable because they believed it was being done with an apparently ironic eyebrow raise.
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it → view → raise
"There is no question he was a very talented stand-up," says Sarah Ditum, author of Toxic: Women, Fame and the Noughties.
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Ditum → be → Toxic
"I think it looks very old hat if you look back on that stuff.
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you → think → stuff
It's dated horribly and I don't think many people are going to be keen to defend Brand's act now knowing that it reflected his real world behaviour rather than an ironic performance.
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it → date → performance
But there were clues at the time that his outrageous stage act did not stop when the show ended - most publicly in his 2007 bestselling memoir, My Booky Wook.
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show → be → memoir
"I'm a bloke from Grays with a good job and a terrific haircut who's been given a Wonka ticket to a lovely sex factory 'cos of ol' fame."
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who → give → fame
Of course, many of his sexual partners consented.
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many → consent → partners
As his defence barrister told the jury "he devoted himself for many years to a highly promiscuous life", reminding them that "having lots of sex is completely lawful".
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having → tell → sex
My Booky Wook, which topped the Sunday Times bestseller chart for seven weeks in 2007 and sold 600,000 copies in hardback in the UK, opens with him checking into a clinic for sex addiction.
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him → top → addiction
He writes about going to lap dancing clubs and having "a lot" of oral sex in toilets and many threesomes.
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He → write → toilets
Fame and success brought him 'birds'
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Fame → bring → birds
"The rules change when you're famous.
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you → change → ?
He writes about how an MTV PR "reminded me that I put lap dances and prostitutes on her gold card and got the hotel to give me cash on her account without her prior knowledge".
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hotel → write → knowledge
The Observer called it "a scandalous, libidinous memoir that is better written and more entertaining than any number of celebrity autobiographies that clog the shelves".
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that → call → shelves
Heat said: "You come away from the book feeling like you really know - and like - the real Russell."
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you → say → Russell
You can't imagine a celebrity these days writing a memoir in which he claims that at stage school a primetime actress, whom he names, "kissed me once in a corridor" and for years afterwards he'd tell people "'I had sex with her…
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I → imagine → her
And by sex, I mean bumming'"
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I → mean → sex
But it's all told in a jokey, revelatory way, by "a bloke from Essex who likes birds with big bottoms and big boobs….
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who → tell → bottoms
In light of his offending, writing that was celebrated for being frank, honest - and very funny - now looks anything but.
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that → offend → offending
People "are willing to mistake irony and self-awareness for truth telling and trustworthiness," says Ditum.
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Ditum → mistake → telling
"The idea that he made these jokes about being this kind of sexual monster was supposed to convince you that he wasn't actually a sexual monster in real life."
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he → make → life
…and 13 more, not listed.
The Aporia
