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Comedian and actor Russell Brand has pleaded not guilty to charges of rape, sexual assault and indecent assault in relation to incidents alleged to have taken place at locations including MTV and a Labour party conference.
Appearing at a pre-trial hearing at Southwark Crown Court on Friday, Brand formally denied five charges authorised by the Crown Prosecution Service last month.
Brand, 49, will now go on trial, which is scheduled to begin on June 3 2026. He will remain on conditional bail until the trial starts, with conditions to provide his UK and US addresses to the court. A pre-trial review has been scheduled for May 20 2026.
In April Brand was charged with one count of rape, one count of indecent assault, one count of oral rape and two further counts of sexual assault involving four separate women between 1999 and 2005.
The alleged incidents took place in Bournemouth and the Westminster area of London.
Prosecutors told Westminster Magistrates’ Court earlier this month that the charges included allegations that Brand raped a woman at a Labour party conference in Bournemouth in 1999.
The woman had attended the conference as part of her interest in the plight of Muslim women and met Brand at an event there.
The pair chatted and went back to her hotel room where Brand raped her, it is alleged.
The other allegations relate to complaints of indecent assault from a former receptionist at MTV and a sexual assault at a radio station.
On arriving at Southwark Crown Court on Friday, Brand, wearing a black open shirt and sunglasses, did not speak to reporters.
He was followed by his lawyer, Oliver Schneider-Sikorsky, who defended actor Kevin Spacey against sexual assault charges in 2023.
The Metropolitan Police said when it charged Brand that it had started investigating him in September 2023 after receiving a number of allegations against him following reporting by Channel 4’s Dispatches programme and The Sunday Times newspaper — which Brand denied at the time.
In a post on social media site X on the day he was charged, Brand denied the allegations and said he was “grateful” that he would have the opportunity to defend himself in court.
He said: “I’ve never engaged in non-consensual activity. I pray that you can see that by looking in my eyes.”
He added: “I’m now going to have an opportunity to defend these charges in court, and I’m incredibly grateful for that.”
