Russell Brand is in a London courtroom right now answering for claims from more than 20 years ago. The 51-year-old comedian and former TV star faces seven charges tied to six women. Those charges include three counts of rape, three of sexual assault, and one of indecent assault. The alleged incidents run from 1999 to 2009.

Prosecutors opened the case on October 14 by calling Brand a ruthless sexual predator. They said he had a huge sexual appetite and treated women as a means to an end. Lead prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones told jurors the six women did not know each other and came forward on their own. She described Brand as charming when he wanted something, then demanding when he did not get it. The trial is expected to last several weeks.

The earliest claim dates to September 1999. Brand was performing at a fringe event during the Labour Party conference in Bournemouth. A woman in the audience invited him back to her hotel room to talk. She later said she thought he was gay. Prosecutors say he raped her there. Other claims involve a 2001 attempt to drag a woman into a toilet at MTV Europe, an alleged oral rape in a bar toilet in 2004, an indecent assault around 2004–2005 at a media company, a 2009 incident at Brand's home after consensual sex turned non-consensual, and a 2009 Channel 4 workplace claim involving a demanded massage.

Brand has pleaded not guilty to every charge. He has long said he never engaged in non-consensual activity. After the first charges appeared in 2025 he posted a video stating he was a fool, a drug addict, and a sex addict in his younger years, but "what I never was, was a rapist." He has told police the same thing and suggested some accounts may have been reinvented after media reports. His defense will argue the encounters were consensual.

Megyn Kelly sat down with Brand in April 2026 while he awaited this trial. On her show he addressed his past conduct. He admitted sleeping with a 16-year-old when he was 30. That was legal under UK law, where the age of consent is 16. He called the power gap between a famous man and young women exploitative and said his past sexual behavior was selfish. He drew a line between immoral conduct and criminal acts. Kelly has noted the detailed nature of the original reports and the difficulty of sorting old claims years later.

Cases this old create real problems for both sides. Memories fade. Witnesses disappear. Physical evidence is scarce. Brand's team can argue the long delay and the media attention that followed the 2023 Channel 4 and Sunday Times reports shaped later accounts. Prosecutors point to the fact that the women came forward independently across a decade of Brand's rising career. Brand has described himself as a changed man who found faith, married, and left the party lifestyle behind. The jury will have to decide whether that past behavior crossed into the crimes charged.

The trial continues at Southwark Crown Court. Brand remains free on bail while the evidence is heard. Whatfinger News is tracking the case as it develops.