Russell Brand has been charged with two more counts of rape and sexual assault.
The Metropolitan Police said in a statement that the Forgetting Sarah Marshall star’s charges relate to two additional women on top of the previous charges, which were two of rape, one of indecent assault and two of sexual assault.
He will appear in court on January 20 next year in relation to the charges. Six months later, his trial starts for the other charges, for which he has pleaded not guilty. He has previously denied all charges against him and said he is “incredibly grateful” to be able to defend the charges in court.
“The women who have made reports, including those connected to the two new charges, continue to receive support from specially trained officers,” said the UK’s Metropolitan Police today. “The Met’s investigation remains ongoing, and detectives urge anyone affected by this case, or anyone with information, to come forward and speak with police.”
Detectives started investigating Brand around two years ago following a Channel 4 and Sunday Times investigation.
They then charged the former comedian and TV presenter with one count of rape, one count of indecent assault, one count of oral rape and two counts of sexual assault.
Given that Brand had been living in the U.S. full time and is something of a friend of MAGA, an extradition battle had been expected, but he appeared in court in London for pre-trial hearings.
The initial revelations on Channel 4 and in the Sunday Times led to much anger and introspection. Since then, the BBC, Channel 4 and Big Brother producer Banijay have all led internal probes, having worked with Brand on shows up until late last decade. All these probes have led to apologies and further revelations. The most recent report from the BBC found that staff at the UK broadcaster’s L.A. bureau had “joked about” an incident in which the star was alleged to have exposed himself to a woman in a bathroom. Channel 4’s report unearthed “two new worrying allegations” against Brand, who had worked on that network’s Celebrity Bake Off as recently as 2018.
Brand was also accused in a lawsuit of sexually assaulting a film extra on the New York City set of the 2011 romantic comedy Arthur.