some thoughts on the Russell Brand situation

i finally watched the Channel Four Russell Brand: In Plain Sight episode and legally speaking, it’s hard to see how he isn’t looking at some non insignificant prison time. for example, in one particular case he outright admits in a text message that he engaged in non consensual activity, it’s actually traced to a phone he owed. prior to this i was kind of willing to entertain the idea that he was a victim of the cultural shift of the last decade, a guy who’s english “cheeky lad” persona wasn’t in style anymore and had shifted more to being perceived as a creepy uncle. this was pretty shocking as i watched him since his early days on tv (the RE:BRAND Naziboy

episode from 2002 is still worth watching to see how charismatic he was) and never would have thought it would end up this way—his MAGA grift seems more understandable now as a hail mary to get him out of this in some way.

the thing is though, it is clear that everyone knew who this guy was and what his issues were with sex behind the scenes. it’s kind of crazy that everyone who enabled him, employed him, and made sure he had a meteoric rise to fame just gets to wash their hands of him and play dumb. kind of reminds me of the Harvey Weinstein case where it was essentially impossible not to know what the guy was like if you had any professional proximity to him.