Russell Brand Accused of Rape in London Court

Russell Brand grinned "like a clown" and referred to himself as a "sexual predator" as he allegedly dragged a woman into a toilet cubicle to rape her, a court heard.

Brand, 51, is accused of groping an MTV worker within seconds of meeting her at a West End bar. The woman told jurors at Southwark Crown Court that Brand grabbed her hair, forced her to perform oral sex, and said, "Come on, don't be a spoilsport." She also testified that he had a "weird maniacal grin" during the alleged assault.

Jurors were shown a photograph of the toilet cubicle where the alleged incident occurred, which reportedly had pictures of naked women on the walls. The woman, who was in her 20s at the time, had been at a friend's birthday party when she encountered Brand.

"I was talking to him for 30 seconds - one minute max," the woman recounted. "He literally just grabbed my boobs out of nowhere in the middle of the conversation. I just remember this weird maniacal grin, I was really shocked."

She described Brand as looking "like a clown" with a "weird look" in his eye. "It was real shock as he just moved towards me and grabbed both of my boobs in both hands really quickly. Then he grabbed my arm and pulled me. It was so quick the way he did it. He dragged me in the toilets. He locked the door."

Brand allegedly leapt onto a toilet seat, unzipped his trousers, and forced her to perform oral sex, pushing her head down. "I did definitely say, 'What are you doing? I don't want to do this'," she told police. "He said, 'Come on, come on'."

The woman stated that the force and the look in his eye felt threatening, adding that as she is 5ft 3ins and he is tall, he was "looming over me." She said she thought, "if I did this, maybe he won't rape me. It was a survival thing." She closed her eyes during the ordeal.

Following the alleged attack, the woman banged on the locked cubicle door for help. She recalled a man asking if she was okay, and Brand casually unlocking the door. The alleged victim, described as "tipsy," said she drifted around the bar in a daze afterward.

Brand allegedly followed her and suggested they swap numbers, acting as if they had just met. The woman then left the bar with colleagues and was put into a waiting car. To her dismay, Brand entered the vehicle and sat next to her, allegedly exposing himself again in front of other passengers and asking her to perform another sex act. She stated, "I did say 'No'. He said, 'Go on suck it' in some disgusting, jokey, jovial way."

She told police that Brand put his penis away, laughing about it and thinking it was "all good fun." He had a "weird look on his face like, 'Come on, be a sport'," she said.

After a 20-minute journey, they were dropped off at an after-party, where the woman fled while Brand reportedly went to a VIP area. Later, she told a friend of Brand's that he was a "sexual predator." However, she did not disclose what had happened until 2023, when allegations of sexual misconduct against Brand surfaced in a documentary.

Brand denies the charges of three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault, and one charge of indecent assault. The trial is ongoing.