Russell Brand’s behaviour was ‘tolerated’ by TV bosses, report finds

Russell Brand’s behaviour was tolerated by television bosses as “Russell being Russell”, despite informal complaints being raised, according to an investigation.

The disgraced comedian and actor is accused of walking around naked in front of colleagues, making crew members wait outside his dressing room while he masturbated, and asking runners to get the phone numbers of women in the audience.

The allegations come as part of an investigation into Brand’s behaviour that has been commissioned by the television company that produced several of the shows which made him a household name.

There were no formal complaints about his behaviour, but findings released by Lewis Silkin LLP, the law firm appointed to the case, said that informal complaints were made and were “not properly escalated or adequately addressed”.

Separately, Brand, 49, has been accused of rape, assault and emotional abuse as part of a joint investigation by Channel 4’s Dispatches programme, The Times and Sunday Times last year.

He has strongly denied all accusations about his behaviour which allegedly took place at the height of his fame between 2006 and 2013.

Following the allegations, a probe was launched by Banijay UK, which bought Endemol, the company commissioned by Channel 4 to produce Big Brother spin-off shows EFourum, Big Brother’s Big Mouth, Kings Of Comedy and Big Brother’s Celebrity Hijack, which Brand worked on between 2004 to 2006 and in 2008.

Findings released by Karen Baxter, the head of investigations at Lewis Silkin LLP, said: “No formal complaints were made about Brand during the programmes.

“There were, however, concerns regarding Brand’s behaviour which were raised informally with senior members of staff, particularly in relation to him asking runners to obtain phone numbers of audience members and female crew members feeling uncomfortable or intimidated by his behaviour while working in Bristol in 2004/2005.

“These concerns were not properly escalated or adequately addressed.”

The findings also state that Brand was employed at a time when Channel 4 and Endemol knew he was a “recovering drug addict with a reputation for being ‘edgy”‘ but “no particular safeguards were put in place to protect Brand, those who worked with him or those who otherwise came into contact with him”, including the audience.

His behaviour included having sexual relationships with audience members and some colleagues on the shows and sometimes being naked in front of Endemol staff, with evidence suggesting it was “tolerated as ‘Russell being Russell”‘, according to the report.

However, it says they found no evidence of any complaint being raised about these issues and the relationships were understood to be consensual.

The investigation also found evidence indicating that Endemol staff felt “largely unable to raise concerns about Brand due to: his role as talent, a view that Brand’s behaviour was tolerated by senior people, a fear of not being listened to, and/or concern for their job security”.

Patrick Holland, the chief executive of Banijay UK, apologised to “anyone who was impacted” and felt “unable to speak up or that their voice was not properly heard”.

In a statement, Mr Holland said: “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 behaviour and felt unable to speak up or that their voice was not properly heard.”

Russell Brand has been contacted for comment.