{"id":501150,"date":"2026-02-24T14:58:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T14:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/501150\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T14:58:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T14:58:09","slug":"russell-brand-pleads-not-guilty-to-further-rape-sex-assault-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/501150\/","title":{"rendered":"Russell Brand pleads not guilty to further rape, sex assault charges"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">British actor and comedian Russell Brand has pleaded not guilty in a London court to two additional charges of rape and sexual assault nearly two decades ago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Mr Brand, once one of Britain&#8217;s most high-profile broadcasters, appeared at Southwark Crown Court in London and denied accusations of raping one woman and sexually assaulting a second woman in 2009.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">He was charged last year with two counts of rape, one count of indecent assault and two counts of sexual assault against four women between 1999 and 2005.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Mr Brand pleaded not guilty in May last year to those five charges and is due to stand trial in June.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">A hearing will be held next month to decide whether the new allegations should be joined to that case, with Mr Brand&#8217;s lawyer saying his client needed more time to address the latest offences.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Mr Brand, 50, arrived at court wearing a white cowboy hat and sunglasses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Asked how he was feeling, Mr Brand, who said in 2024 he had become a Christian, told reporters he was feeling &#8220;blessed&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Russell Brand leans forqard to step out of a car, wearing sunglasses and holding a white cowboy hat to shield his face\" class=\"Image_image__5tFYM ContentImage_image__DQ_cq\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/a4897a13632c22509124db7fbcbb1474.jpeg\" loading=\"lazy\" data-component=\"Image\" data-lazy=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP FigureCaption_text__zDxQ5 Typography_sizeMobile12__w_FPC Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">Russell Brand now largely appears online, airing his views on US politics and free speech. (Reuters: Toby Melville)<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Mr Brand was a regular on British screens in the 2000s.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">He was known for his flamboyant style and appearance, and also worked as a radio presenter for the BBC.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Mr Brand is the former husband of American singer Katy Perry, with the pair divorcing in 2012 after 14 months of marriage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">He also starred in a number of films, including Get Him to the Greek in 2010, the same year he married Perry.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">By the early 2020s, Mr Brand had faded from mainstream culture and has since largely appeared online, airing his views on US politics and free speech.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"British actor and comedian Russell Brand has pleaded not guilty in a London court to two additional charges&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":501151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,35393,28567,1108,134,74821,13396,251987,6671],"class_list":["post-501150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-british","tag-comedian","tag-court","tag-entertainment","tag-not-guilty","tag-rape","tag-russell-brand","tag-sexual-assault"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}