- READ MORE: Russell Brand news LIVE: Sex allegations against star are probed
Russell Brand bragged about kissing Meghan Markle before her eventual marriage to Prince Harry – after the pair allegedly met on a Hollywood film set in 2009.
Over the weekend, the comedian has been subject to multiple claims from women accusing him of abusive and predatory behaviour, including rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse, between 2006 and 2013.
Brand ‘absolutely denies’ the allegations and insists all his relationships have been consensual.
In a resurfaced clip from ITV’s Loose Women in 2018, Brand claimed he had a brief encounter with the future Duchess of Sussex just a week before she was due to be married to Prince Harry.
The pair both featured in the 2010 film Get Him To The Greek – in which Brand played a drug-addled sexually promiscuous rockstar.
Brand made the comments a week before Meghan Markle married Prince Harry in 2018
In a resurfaced clip from ITV ‘s Loose Women in 2018, Brand claimed he had a brief encounter with the future Duchess of Sussex
Discussing the alleged encounter on Loose Women in 2018, Brand bragged: ‘She was in a film that I was in, Get Him to the Greek, it was a good film.
‘Meghan Markle – didn’t know at the time because she wasn’t married to a Royal person.
‘I don’t remember the film that much, I think I planted one on her in the scene.
‘It was scripted in the scene. I only know this because I think I saw a clip of it somewhere. Meghan Markle, there we go.
‘They should bring that up [at the wedding]… if anyone has any reason… yeah Russell Brand snogged her in the film!’
Some have claimed a clip from the film shows the moment in question, but doubt has been cast over whether it actually shows Brand kissing Meghan.
Brand said he saw a clip of the ‘unmemorable’ moment online, but it would appear that the scene, if it occurred, didn’t make the final cut of the movie.
Since Brand was the subject of an investigation by The Times, The Sunday Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches, more women have come forward with allegations about how he has treated them, it has emerged.
The Times and Sunday Times claim ‘several women’ have come forward with undisclosed allegations about Brand’s behaviour during the early 2000s in wake of their joint investigation with Channel 4 which was published on Saturday.
The latest allegations – which the newspaper says have not been investigated, but will now be ‘rigorously checked’ – follow accusations from four women, including one who claims she was sexually assaulted by Brand during a three-month relationship with him when she was 16 and still at school.
Russell Brand is alleged to have asked staff on the Big Brother shows he was hosting to ask female audience members for their numbers. Pictured: Russell Brand hosting Big Brother’s Little Brother in May 2006
Pictured: Brand on Celebrity Great British Bake Off
Russell Brand pictured with his wife Laura Gallacher
One accuser, Alice (pictured), alleges that Russell Brand sexually assaulted her when she was 16 years old. She claims he would send a car to pick her up secondary school lessons, which she has since claimed was a ‘BBC car’
The comedian released a video last week refuting all the allegations against him. Pictured: Brand leaving the Troubabour Wembley Park theatre after a gig on Saturday night
The BBC is now also facing ‘urgent questions’ after it was claimed that Brand, 48, used his company-provided car service to pick the girl up from school.
It comes as both BBC and Channel 4 have launched internal investigations into separate accusations of predatory behaviour by Brand towards staff and audience members during the time of his employment.
Channel 4 has since removed all programmes linked to Brand from its website, including episodes of The Great British Bake Off and Big Brother’s Big Mouth in which he was featured, The Daily Telegraph reported.
Netflix has since been urged to remove his comedy special, titled Re:Birth, from its streaming catalogue.
The maverick actor and stand-up comic has strenuously denied any wrongdoing and blamed the ‘mainstream media’ for the ‘litany of astonishing rather baroque attacks’.
BBC chiefs scrambled to investigate Brand last night after the comedian was accused of rape.
Their probe was announced minutes before Scotland Yard piled on the pressure by announcing that detectives would like to speak to the comedian’s alleged victims.
Brand, a former star of the BBC and Channel 4, faces bombshell claims from women alleging sexual assaults, abuse and predatory behaviour – including one who was a 16-year-old schoolgirl.
Russell Brand pictured leaving the Troubabour Wembley Park theatre on Saturday night after allegations about the comic broke
But the claims from one businesswoman – who alleged Brand raped her when she refused a threesome – and another who said she was 16 when he choked her during a sexual act, prompted a firestorm yesterday.
Among the complaints raised in the investigation were allegations by a woman, referred to as Alice to protect her identity, who claims she was sexually assaulted by Brand as a 16-year-old.
She alleges he was ‘preoccupied’ with her being ‘innocent and pure’, and often referred to her as ‘The Child’.
Alice described his behaviour towards her as ‘grooming’ as Brand would allegedly provide her with scripts on how to deceive her parents into allowing her to visit him. She also claimed he would send his ‘BBC car’ to her secondary school to pick her up.
‘The first time I used it, he told me it was booked to take him to his radio show but he had a friend taking him instead so I should use that car,’ she told The Times.
She claimed the chauffeur once took her from Brand’s home to her grandmother’s house and that on a separate occasion the same car ‘picked me up from school’.
Alice added: ‘It was the same car…I knew that that was a BBC car.’
The BBC did not initially commit to an inquiry but amid the growing outcry, it shifted its position last night and a spokesman said it was ‘urgently looking into the issues’.
In a statement, a BBC spokesman said: ‘The documentary and associated reports contained serious allegations, spanning a number of years.
‘Russell Brand worked on BBC radio programmes between 2006 and 2008 and we are urgently looking into the issues raised.’
The broadcaster yesterday launched an internal investigation into what was known about Brand’s alleged behaviour following claims that at least one senior executive was aware of complaints against the comedian and seemingly dismissed them.
#Moment #Russell #Brand #boasts #039kissing #Meghan #Markle #filming #film039 #unearthed #clip #marriage #Prince #Harry