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Brand is on bail from the court while he awaits his trial (PA)<\/p>\nRussell Brand said he had \u201cexploitative\u201d sex with a 16-year-old girl at the height of his fame, but insists his actions were not against the law.<\/p>\n
The comedian and actor turned podcaster, 50, is facing trial this autumn over allegations of rape and sexual assault made against him by six women.<\/p>\n
Brand, who denies all the charges which date from 1999 to 2009, spoke about his past actions in an appearance on the YouTube show of US journalist Megyn Kelly, calling himself \u201cselfish\u201d and an \u201cexploiter of women\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cIn Europe and the United Kingdom, where I\u2019m from, the age of consent is 16, and I did sleep with a 16-year-old when I was 30.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was 30, I was a very different person.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a lot younger, and I was an immature 30-year-old.<\/p>\n
\u201cConsensual sex with a lot of people, when there is a strong power differential, as there is when you are a famous man who has the ability to attract women that I had at that time, I think involves exploitation. I think it is exploitative.<\/p>\n
\u201cI recognise that my sexual conduct in the past was selfish and I did not apply enough consideration, barely any I suppose, really, to how that sex was affecting other people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brand, who hosted Big Brother spin-off shows, had his own BBC Radio 2 programme and starred in a string of Hollywood films, is facing three charges of rape, three allegations of sexual assault, and one charge of indecent assault.<\/p>\n
His trial at Southwark Crown Court is set to begin on October 12, when his six accusers will speak about the claims and he will in turn have the chance to give evidence.<\/p>\n
A court has previously heard how Brand is accused of raping a woman in a hotel room while she attended a Labour Party conference in Bournemouth, grabbing a TV worker\u2019s breasts and orally raping her after dragging her into a male toilet, and kissing and groping a radio worker after pushing her against a wall.<\/p>\n
On the YouTube appearance, Brand \u2013 who has now converted to Christianity \u2013 suggested as a younger man he was among the \u201cinnocuous party boy-style exploiters of women\u201d.<\/p>\n
Brand is on bail from the court while he awaits his trial (PA)<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cIt\u2019s plainly something that exists within our industry, and one might say culture at large.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile I was transgressing lines of being as a person that was sleeping with people because I had availability to \u2013 not only by the way with waitresses and strippers and fans and people, but powerful women as well, powerful professional women that had gravitas and status and power \u2013 I was only really thinking of myself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had consensual sex with lots and lots of women, and you can argue that\u2019s not appropriate, but the age of consent is an important thing and the ability to consent is an important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
He continued: \u201cWhat fame gave me, and what addiction fuelled, was opportunity for endless consent, which led me to be a hedonist and a fool and an exploiter of women.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is wrong, and something that needs to redeemed and addressed, and atoned for.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I\u2019m obviously not only querying, but violently or aggressively or assertively opposing, is the idea this is a judicial criminal matter where consent was overridden.<\/p>\n
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