Topics: Celebrity, TV And Film, Lorraine, Russell Brand, Crime, UK News
Warning: this article discusses sexual assault and rape
Lorraine Kelly has recalled the moment she was called a ‘s**t’ by Russell Brand during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show.
The TV personality discussed the recent accusations made against Brand with ITV UK news editor Paul Brand, and The Mirror editor Alison Phillips on her show today (Wednesday 20 September).
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Brand has been accused of rape, sexual assault and controlling behaviour by four women following an investigation by Channel 4, The Times and The Sunday Times.
The four women have made allegations against Brand pertaining to a period between 2006 and 2013, whilst he was employed by the BBC, Channel 4, and acting in Hollywood films.
Brand has denied all the accusations made against him.
Kelly was discussing the bombshell investigation, during which she said that his ‘old jokes now look like confessions’.
Kelly said she had met Brand, 48, on numerous occasions over the years and said she normally saw the ‘charming Russell, the flirty Russell’, and suggested he may have had ‘respect’ for her as she had worked in the industry for so long.
However, she did recall one ‘uncomfortable’ encounter when Brand branded her a ‘s**t’ during a 2007 appearance on The Graham Norton Show.
In the clip, Brand touches Kelly's leg before declaring: “Oh my god, you're wearing suspenders. I have been in other films but none of that matters now I know Lorraine Kelly is a s**t.”
Commenting on the clip today, Kelly said: “That’s uncomfortable to watch that now it absolutely is. Obviously for the record I was not wearing suspenders at all.
“He was laughing, I was laughing. It’s difficult looking back on it, and now I probably would have said something, but it’s an entertainment show, that was his shtick.
“That's what he was not just doing but actively encouraged to do. It's not that long ago, not really.
“I do wonder if I would have put up with that now. I do wonder if we are in a different place now and if it even would have been aired.”
Brand has vehemently denied any wrongdoing in a clip shared to his YouTube channel.
"As I've written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous,” he said.
"Now, during that time of promiscuity, the relationships I had were absolutely always consensual. I was always transparent about that then, almost too transparent, and I'm being transparent about it now as well.
"And to see that transparency metastasized into something criminal that I absolutely deny makes me question, is there another agenda at play?"
