Claims extracted
30
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
7%
2 of 30 hedged
("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
66/100
The Guardian's corrections and
hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
103
Crime & Law
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Russell Brand had a “weird maniacal” grin on his face like a clown when he grabbed a woman’s breasts before dragging her into a toilet and raping her, a court has heard.
asserted
court → have → her
The 51-year-old comedian is accused of orally raping the MTV worker as he told her: “You want to do this,” and: “Come on, don’t be a spoilsport.”
asserted
You → accuse → this
The woman said she was shaking and “numb” after the assault at a birthday party at a bar in Soho, London, 2004.
asserted
she → say → Soho
Brand faces three charges of rape, three of sexual assault and one of indecent assault against six women, in allegations spanning 10 years from 1999 to 2009.
asserted
Brand → face → 2009
He denies all the charges and has pleaded not guilty.
asserted
He → deny → charges
The TV personality sat still and upright in the dock on Monday as the woman’s pre-recorded police interview was played to jurors at Southwark crown court.
asserted
interview → sit → court
She told detectives she found Brand funny on Big Brother spin-off shows on Channel 4, but that he sexually assaulted her within a minute of meeting her at the bar.
asserted
he → tell → bar
She said: “He literally just grabbed my boobs, out of nowhere, just in the middle of a conversation and I just remember this weird maniacal grin, looming in front of me as he just grabbed my boobs.
asserted
he → say → boobs
“I was completely in shock and was like: ‘What the hell are you doing?
asserted
you → do → hell
I’ve literally just met you.’
asserted
I → meet → you
Then literally he grabbed my arm and dragged me into the toilets.”
asserted
he → grab → toilets
She broke down in tears as she recounted how, within seconds, Brand allegedly orally raped her in the toilet as she told him: “What are you doing?
uncertain
you → break → What
I don’t want to do this”
asserted
I → want → this
She said: “I pushed him away and said: ‘Come on, come on, don’t be a spoilsport.’
asserted
I → say → him
He kept pushing my head down and wouldn’t let me go.
asserted
me → keep → head
I just froze.
asserted
I → freeze → ?
I didn’t know what to do.”
asserted
I → know → what
She said she closed her eyes during the alleged attack and remembered a man knocking on the toilet door saying: “Are you OK?” before she walked out in a daze.
asserted
she → say → daze
“I remember this really, really clearly – he turned to me and went: ‘Oh, I guess we should swap numbers now’, like it was just all normal, like he hadn’t just forced me to do that,” she recalled.
asserted
she → remember → that
The woman alleged she then recalled being “steered” into Brand’s car before the comedian’s driver ferried them to a different bar in Camden.
asserted
driver → allege → Camden
“I was in disbelief and shock and I felt this nudge and I looked around and he [Brand] had penis out again in the car and he was going ‘come on, come on, suck it’ and I was just like ‘no’.
asserted
I → feel → it
He took ‘no’ for an answer then.”
asserted
He → take → answer
The woman said she told a friend Brand had attempted to rape her but did not tell him the full extent of what had happened, telling police: “I just felt this shame that I allowed him to do that to me.
asserted
him → say → me
I just didn’t want to admit it to myself, not to anyone, but it had happened.”
asserted
it → want → anyone
Days later she told another colleague part of what had happened and told them Brand was a “sexual predator”.
asserted
Brand → tell → them
She said 2023 media reports about Brand’s alleged sexual misconduct led her to come forward to police, telling the officer: “Seeing it all in the press has made me relive it all.”
asserted
me → say → it
In cross-examination, Brand’s barrister, Ian Winter KC, suggested the woman had “happily accompanied” Brand to the toilets and that she had been excited and charmed to meet him.
uncertain
she → suggest → him
“I was not charmed in the slightest.
asserted
I → charm → slightest
I’d met this person for a minute before I was sexually assaulted,” she replied.
asserted
she → meet → minute
The trial continues.
asserted
trial → continue → ?
The Aporia
