Russell Brand suspended from charity after being charged with rape and sex crimes
He was charged on Friday.
Russell Brand has been suspended from his position as vice-president at a leading animal wildlife hospital after he was charged with rape and sexual assault.
The comedian and actor, 49, denied the accusations on Friday as he responded to the Metropolitan Police after they wrote to inform him of the charges, which include one count of rape, one count of indecent assault, one count of oral rape and two counts of sexual assault.
These stem from four separate alleged incidents spanning from 1999 to 2005.
Now his role has been suspended at Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital, a free wildlife hospital in the UK which considers itself ‘the busiest and most advanced in the world’.
Tiggywinkles takes care of approximately 13,000 injured, orphaned and distressed animals per year, such as hedgehogs, badgers, deer and birds.
The CEO of the hospital, Colin Stocker, whose parents founded the charity over 40 years ago, told The Mirror in a statement: ‘With the news of the extremely serious charges announced last week, our senior team met and immediately suspended Mr Brand from his ambassador role at Tiggywinkles, indefinitely.
After being charged with four counts, including rape and sexual assault, Brand has been suspended from his role with a leading wildlife charity (Picture: Getty)‘We cannot comment further during any police investigation.’
Tiggywinkles, based in Buckinghamshire, had appointed Brand to his role after he brought in a fox cub in 2017.
‘The cub, named Edmund, was rehabilitated and released – to the delight of us all,’ read a post on the official Facebook account of Tiggywinkles in January 2019, accompanied by photographs of Brand with staff.
It continued: ‘So, we were of course happy to welcome a fellow wildlife lover here to see ‘behind the scenes’ of the Hospital.
‘We are also very excited to announce that Russell has agreed to be one of our Vice Presidents! Thank you for caring for wildlife Russell!’
Brand has been charged with the rape of a woman in 1999 in the Bournemouth area and the oral rape and sexual assault of a woman in 2004 in the Westminster area of London.
The actor denied the claims saying he ‘never was a rapist.’
In a video posted on Instagram, he said: ‘I’ve always told you guys that when I was young and single before I had a wife and family – who are there just out of shot – I was a fool, man, I was a fool before I lived in the light of the Lord.
‘I was a drug addict, a sex addict, and an imbecile but what I never was, was a rapist.
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Previous Page Next Page‘I’ve never engaged in non-consensual activity, and I pray that you can see that in my eyes.’
His response also took aim at the government as ‘context’, and confirmed that his online show will be returning on Monday.
He concluded: ‘Of course I’m now gonna have the opportunity to defend these charges in court and I’m incredibly grateful for that. In the meantime you lot, stay free and we will be continuing to discuss this matter, praise the Lord.’
He will appear in Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday, May 2.
Detectives started looking into Brand after a joint investigation by The Sunday Times, The Times and Channel 4 Dispatches in September 2023.
Brand has denied the charges, saying he ‘never was a rapist’ (Picture: Getty)Brand has previously vehemently denied that he has had any non-consensual relationships.
The Rumble content creator, who is a vocal Trump supporter, moved to the US in recent months and is currently believed to be living in Florida.
After he was dismissed from his job as an MTV presenter in the early 2000s, he rose to fame in 2004 as the host of Big Brother’s Big Mouth.
He has also presented on BBC 6 Music BBC Radio 2 and subsequently pursued a career in Hollywood which included movies like St Trinian’s, Rock of Ages, Arthur and Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
Metro has contacted Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital and reps for Russell Brand for comment.
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