The results of an investigation into Russell Brand’s conduct while working at the BBC have been published, with the British broadcasting network apologizing to staff who felt afraid to speak up about the star’s behavior.
In the report, released by the BBC on Thursday, January 30, Peter Johnston, the broadcaster’s director of editorial complaints and reviews, found that there had been eight complaints about Brand’s misconduct during his period as a radio presenter on stations Radio 2 and 6 Music from 2006 to 2008 — but only two were made while he worked there.
The report revealed that staff felt “unable to raise” concerns due to Brand’s star power. “The culture of the time undoubtedly influenced what was acceptable/tolerated, but I have found that a number of individuals had concerns about Russell Brand’s behaviour which they felt unable to raise then,” Johnston noted. “Many interviewees believed, rightly or wrongly, that Russell Brand would always get his way and therefore they stayed silent.”
Some of the behavior reported included allegations of Brand, 49, urinating into cups while in the radio studio, throwing objects around, having sex on the premises — on one occasion, with a competition winner — and exposing himself to staff and visitors. One incident involving a woman, referred to by the alias Olivia, in which Brand allegedly followed her into the bathroom moments before a show and showed her his penis, was “fairly common knowledge” among colleagues, the report suggests.
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“I have heard it was often ‘joked about,’ which is unacceptable for something so serious,” Johnston wrote.
The investigation also spoke to a woman, given the alias Alice, who said she was in a relationship with Brand for around three months when she was 16. She said that Brand would send drivers, supplied by the BBC, to take her from her school to his home in north London.
Johnston claimed, “If Russell Brand did persuade a taxi or mini-cab pre-booked on his behalf by the BBC to make these journeys, I find that this is likely to have been done without the knowledge of the BBC staff who booked his cars for him in advance and to and from fixed locations.”
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The report concluded: “What is clear is that many BBC staff and freelancers, especially in more junior roles, found Russell Brand demanding and difficult to work with and his behaviour extreme, but all felt that there was no point in complaining as they believed they would not be listened to and, rightly or wrongly, that Russell Brand as a high-profile presenter had the support of the station management.”
The BBC has accepted responsibility for not dealing with some of the issues at the time. “It is also clear that there were compliance inadequacies on some of Russell Brand’s Radio 2 shows which led to content being aired that would not be broadcast today,” they said. “Russell Brand left the BBC in 2008 following a high-profile editorial breach. As has been reported, there is an ongoing police investigation into Russell Brand. The BBC has been in contact with the Metropolitan police throughout the review and they have seen the report. The BBC acknowledges that Russell Brand categorically denies all public allegations made against him.”
The BBC launched the investigation after, in 2023, several women accused the star of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse. Brand has denied all allegations and said his relationships were “always consensual.”
So far, Brand and his reps have not commented on the BBC’s findings.
