A CHANNEL 4 worker said she was \u201crepulsed\u201d after she was forced to massage Russell Brand and the comedian thrust his head into her lap.<\/p>\n
The woman said members of Brand\u2019s entourage shrugged and laughed when he carried out the sexual assault during a recording for a Channel 4 project in 2009.<\/p>\n
She told Southwark Crown Court that Brand had been \u201creally lovely\u201d at the start of the recording session, but he grew annoyed as the day wore on.<\/p>\n
His associates Jack Bayles and Gareth Roy said Brand would only continue if she gave him a massage, she told the court.<\/p>\n
It became \u201cclear that he was quite unhappy about things\u201d and the \u201catmosphere changed\u201d in the studio, she told the jury.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey said Russell won\u2019t carry on \u2026 unless you give him a massage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked how she responded, she said: \u201cI didn\u2019t want to give him a massage, I actually laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought they were joking because I didn\u2019t expect somebody to say that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen I saw by their faces that they weren\u2019t joking.\u201d<\/p>\n
The woman said Brand \u201cleaned into my lap \u2013 my groin area\u201d, and she told the court: \u201cI could feel his breath against me.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said she looked to Mr Bayles and Mr Roy, \u201choping someone was going to help me\u201d, but she added: \u201cThey just, arms up, as if to say: \u2018Come on.\u2019 They were shrugging and gesticulating, to say: \u2018Are you going to do it?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The woman said she thought: \u201cOh my God, I have got to do this\u201d, and she placed her fingers on Brand\u2019s shoulders.<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cI was so repulsed by the situation and my automatic reaction was: \u2018Urgh, you\u2019re so bony.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The woman said that Mr Bayles and Mr Roy \u201claughed\u201d, but then she added in a quieter voice: \u201cRussell didn\u2019t laugh.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said Brand made a series of offensive comments, suggesting that he and Mr Roy had been \u201cwanting to know: is it a girl or a boy?\u201d<\/p>\n
The woman said Brand then walked to the other side of the room and started to make a joke about a calculator drinking from a glass of water.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just a bit of a charade, just a change of tune, and then he said: \u2018Right, are we going to get on with this\u2026 or not?\u2019\u201d she told the court.<\/p>\n
The woman said she reported the incident the following day to her line manager at Channel 4, and she believes it was passed on to the head of her department.<\/p>\n
Earlier, another woman gave evidence that Brand sexually assaulted her in a radio station corridor, pressing her against a wall and planting \u201csloppy\u201d kisses.<\/p>\n
She tearfully told the court that she had nothing to gain from giving evidence against Brand, and recalled pleading with people with Brand to intervene but getting no help.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a culture of fear,\u201d she said, recalling the atmosphere at the time as \u201cpeople-pleasing\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cRussell Brand was an A-lister star, it was Big Brother, people were watching it, we all watched it.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also criticised the workplace \u201cbanter\u201d from the 2000s, telling the court: \u201cWomen were rated by colleagues on what we were wearing, how we looked.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t an environment where management were coming to talk to us about workplace behaviour, that didn\u2019t exist.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added that if she had reported the incident to a manager, she thought the response would have been: \u201cOh, you\u2019re lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brand denies three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one allegation of indecent assault.<\/p>\n
The trial continues.<\/p>\n