What's In The News? Mini #412

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Madigan (0:30)

Hi, I'm Madigan, and you're listening to Your Angry Neighborhood Feminist, a podcast that explores the world through a personal feminist perspective.

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to another mini episode. Before I get into today's topics, of course, just another little reminder that I could really use your help and support for this show right now, as I look for a new network. And some of the best ways that you can support the show is by going to your Apple Podcast app and leaving a five-star review and a quick sentence as to why you enjoy the show. You can also go over to patreon.com/angryneighborhoodfeminist to get all of these episodes a little bit early and ad free for just a few bucks a month. And there's something else. What am I forgetting? Oh, share episodes that you like with your friends on social media. That is so incredibly helpful. Thank you so much. And let's get into the topics for the week because, who, another doozy, everyone. First, we are going to talk about Russell Brand.

Now, I feel like I've known and it's been a while since I've known that Russell Brand isn't like the best guy for quite some time. I'd heard rumors that though he claimed to be in recovery from a sex addiction, that he sexually harassed women, at the very least. And now he's been sentenced to over 10 years in prison. And it turns out his story is way worse and much stranger than I could have imagined. Since this is a mini episode and this story is quite long and very, very involved, I'm not going to be able to get into everything right now. But I wanted to give you a little bit of a timeline for how long people have actually known about his behavior and what some of these behaviors were. First, I'm going to take you back 20 years ago, back to 2006, when a pop singer named Danny Minogue, Kylie Minogue's sister, appeared on Russell Brand's UK MTV show One Lake Hester Square. In an interview with the Daily Mirror, she described Russell Brand as a bit of a vile predator and spoke about how he wouldn't take no for an answer. Danny said, throughout the whole interview, he kept making shocking remarks that I can't even repeat and added, I certainly don't think he's cured his sex addiction. Brand also has an interesting story involving one of UK's most prolific sex offenders, English personality and DJ, Jimmy Savile. Jimmy Savile truly is one of the most disgusting humans I've ever heard about. Don't Google him. In 2007, Brand called Savile live on his BBC Radio 2 show and asked to meet with him. During the call, Brand asked to meet Savile and Savile answered that he would, but only if Brand brought his sister along if he had one. In response, Brand joked, I've got a personal assistant. And part of her job description is that anyone I demand, she greet, meet, massages. She has to do it. She's very attractive, Jimmy.

It's very Epstein-esque with the massages. Brand then asked Savile what his assistant should wear, to which Savile replied he would prefer for her to wear nothing.

Men are so gross, and I mean these men in particular are vile. Brand received two complaints against him while he was working as a BBC radio host between 2006 and 2008 of sexual misconduct and unprofessional workplace behavior. It would later be revealed after an investigation that Brand had allegedly urinated into a bottle in full view of everyone in the studio and hurled objects in fits of rage. What a child. He also allegedly pursued female audience members for sex and exposed himself to crew members on various television shows. People who expose themselves, flashers, things like that, I think people laugh it off far too easily and don't see it as being something that is dangerous. But just like with any sort of sexual-esque crime, power and control is very much at the heart of it. And I think when you flash someone, you're making them very uncomfortable. You're putting them in a very vulnerable situation as well. People don't typically know how to react to something like that. So while it may seem silly, it's actually quite frightening, especially if this is occurring to a crew member who would be on a lower rung of the ladder than Russell Brand, who would be the talent. I wanted to mention that because, like I said, I think far too often flashing is dismissed when it really shouldn't be. It was also later revealed that in 2007, Brand committed sexual assault as well as physical and emotional abuse against his former girlfriend, Jordan Martin. Then, jumping ahead to 2014, though I'm sure there were plenty more stories between 2008 and 2014, a masseuse accused Brand of assault at his home and treating her, quote, like a prostitute. Sadly, the police closed the investigation without charges, and instead, Brand and his then partner, Jemima Goldsmith, actually won a high court injunction for harassment. Apparently, a victim is prohibited from discussing the alleged assault with anyone except her legal advisors or doctors, and that's why he won the injunction. In 2018, performer Katherine Ryan reportedly made remarks to Brand that he was a sexual predator that wasn't broadcast. Later, she discussed those comments with Louis Thoreau, stating, I informed him to his face that he was a predator, adding, This person I believe very strongly, so do a lot of people believe very strongly. It is an open secret, is a predator of sexual assault. It wouldn't be until 2019 that an investigation finally began. The Sunday Times began inquiring about Brand's past allegations, but it doesn't seem like much came of this initial investigation until Channel 4's dispatch began working with them, and the Times joined as well. My guess is that the initial investigation didn't go very far because Brand is so litigious. This was mentioned by numerous people, and the Sunday Times just kept hitting dead ends. But eventually, the results of the investigation by this team was published in September of 2023, in which four women anonymously accused Russell Brand of sexual assaults, and emotional abuse between 2006 and 2013