Yahoo News Informal Complaints Were Made About Russell Brand’s Behavior 20 Years Ago, Banijay U.K. Report Finds
Informal complaints concerning Russell Brand were made over 20 years ago on the set of his projects, including that runners were asked to fetch phone numbers of audience members and an allegation that crew members were made to wait outside his dressing room while he masturbated, a new investigation has concluded.
Banijay U.K. commissioned an investigation from legal firm Lewis Silkin that examined Brand’s involvement with legacy production company Endemol between 2004 and 2008. The investigating team reviewed all relevant emails, correspondence and documentation available over the course of 385 hours of the investigation, and conducted extensive interviews with former employees.
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It found that, as Brand worked on Big Brother’s Big Mouth, Kings of Comedy and Big Brother’s Celebrity Hijack, no formal complaints were ever raised about his behavior. But the report says there is evidence that informal claims were made by female staff members who were said to be uncomfortable around Brand and that these concerns were not “adequately addressed” at the time.
There was no evidence to suggest that anyone at Endemol was aware Brand was being treated for sex addiction prior to his autobiography being published in November 2007, the report added, and no evidence to support that any staff were aware of a sexual relationship in 2004 with runner “Rachel.”
Two witnesses were aware of an allegation that Brand would make crew members wait outside his dressing room while he masturbated. It is alleged other witnesses were aware of this issue but, “there is insufficient information to conclude this actually occurred,” the report said.
The examination was launched when a joint investigation into Brand by Channel 4’s Dispatches, The Times and The Sunday Times in September last year aired extensive allegations including ones of rape and sexual assault against Brand. He has denied all claims made against him.
CEO of Banijay U.K. Patrick Holland said: “Dispatches made deeply troubling allegations regarding Russell Brand’s behavour during his time working for legacy company Endemol. I am grateful to Lewis Silkin for this thorough report and the learnings we can take from it.”
“While Endemol did have support and escalation procedures in place during the period in question, they were clearly not understood and adhered to the degree we would expect today and were not as robust as our current U.K. and group-wide processes. Industry protocols, duty of care and expectations of behaviour have vastly improved in recent years and continue to be reviewed and progressively updated on a regular basis. We are extremely sorry to anyone who was impacted by this behavior and felt unable to speak up or that their voice was not properly heard.”
Banijay notes that duty of care procedures have been implemented. These include access to a third-party support system, HR contact details on call sheets, mandatory respect at work training and a safeguarding rep appointed on all of their productions.
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