Russell Brand has claimed that a woman who accused him of sexually assaulting her on a film set has a “defective memory” of what happened and is “unable to distinguish performance from reality” in legal documents denying the allegations against him.
The comedian is alleged to have exposed himself to the woman while she was working on the film Arthur in July 2010 at Le Cirque restaurant in New York.
According to court documents, the woman, known as Jane Doe, also claims that the same day the actor-turned-political commentator assaulted her in a bathroom while production staff guarded the door.
In response to the allegations, raised by the woman in a civil lawsuit filed in November, Brand’s legal documents state that he does not recognize the woman or remember speaking to her.
Brand, who at the time was engaged to singer Katy Perry, has also faced other allegations of inappropriate behavior, including rape and emotional abuse between 2006 and 2013. He has denied all of them.
Russell Brand, pictured speaking at The Tucker Carlson Encounter, has been accused of sexually assaulting a woman on a film set in 2010.
The actor, pictured at the launch of Meditation in Education in Los Angeles in 2013, has strenuously denied the allegations.
In documents submitted to the court, Jane Doe, who was an extra in the film Arthur, claims that Brand “appeared intoxicated, smelled of alcohol and was carrying a bottle of vodka on set.”
Brand, who played the role of drunken millionaire Arthur Bach in the film, claims that his “job was to act drunk” and insists that he was sober at the time, bbc reports.
His legal papers said: “Famously, the character, Arthur Bach, originally played by Dudley Moore in the 1981 comedy, Arthur, is a drunk.
‘Brand, an actor and comedian, played the same role in the 2010 remake. While Brand’s job was to act drunk and portray a drunk in the film, he did not drink a sip of alcohol or use any drugs at any time during the production.
His lawyer added that the ‘open bottle of alcohol’ was a prop for the film and that Brand had not used drugs or alcohol for eight years at the start of filming.
They added that his “faulty memory of the events he alleges in his complaint, more than 13 years after they supposedly happened, is fatal to his claims.”
Talking with him sunday time Last year, the woman said she felt ‘disgusting’ after the alleged attack.
She said: ‘I felt used and abused. Disgusting is the only word. I felt like I was being used, that I was just an object for her momentary arousal.’
Russell Brand has been accused of sexually assaulting an actress while filming on the set of ‘Arthur’ in New York in 2010. Pictured: Brand in the film
The alleged sexual assault is said to have occurred three months before Brand married pop star Katy Perry (pictured together in March 2010).
Brand starred in Arthur as a drunken, womanizing heir to a fortune alongside Helen Mirren, Jennifer Garner, Greta Gerwig and Nick Nolte. The film was released in 2011.
In the affidavit, she said: ‘The sexual assault occurred that same day when I was in the bathroom.
‘Mister. Brand came in behind me and assaulted me, while a member of the production team watched the door from outside.
The woman claims she “suffered and continues to suffer extreme shame, embarrassment and fear” and now finds it “difficult to trust others” as a result of the alleged sexual abuse.
He said he is speaking out in the hope that other people who have gone through similar experiences will have the courage to come forward.
The alleged assault, which took place while he was allegedly drunk, comes despite Brand publicly celebrating 20 years of sobriety from alcohol and drugs in 2022.
New York Magazine also reported in a 2011 article about Brand and the film ‘Arthur’ that he had been sober for eight years.
Brand starred in Arthur, a remake of Dudley Moore’s 1981 film, as a drunken, womanizing heir to a fortune, alongside Helen Mirren, Jennifer Garner, Greta Gerwig and Nick Nolte. The film was released in 2011.
‘Arthur’ ended up failing as a film and largely marked the end of Brand’s film career, although he did star in Death on the Nile, which was released in 2022.
The woman claimed that she felt too scared to tell others on set and that she felt like she had “absolutely no power to speak for myself.”
Actor and comedian Russell Brand photographed filming ‘Arthur’ on the streets of New York in 2010.
The woman alleges in an affidavit that Brand “appeared intoxicated, smelled of alcohol and was carrying a bottle of vodka on set” before attacking her. In the photo: Brand on the set of ‘Arthur’ in 2010.
He added: “Usually everyone turns a blind eye to bad behavior on a set. ‘If I had shown up and said something to, say, even a production assistant on set, what would they do?’ Are they going to fire Russell Brand or are they going to fire me?
In court documents, the woman says she was initially hired to work three days on the movie ‘Arthur,’ but after the alleged assault she was not brought back and only received money for one day.
The lawsuit was filed under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which extended the deadline for alleged victims to sue their abusers. The alleged victims have until November 23 to report historical sexual crimes.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages from Brand for assault, battery, false imprisonment and infliction of emotional distress.
It is one of a series of allegations leveled against Brand, who has also been accused of abusive and predatory behavior, including rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse, between 2006 and 2013, at the height of his fame.
He has vehemently denied the allegations, but the BBC, Channel 4 and production company Banijay have launched investigations into his behaviour, while the Metropolitan Police and Thames Valley police said they are investigating other allegations.
The first allegations included a woman alleging that Brand raped her against the wall of his Los Angeles home without a condom in 2013. She was treated for crisis rape on the same day, according to medical records seen by The Times.
Another woman alleged that he sexually assaulted her when she was 16 and still at school in the United Kingdom.
Brand (pictured Los Angeles, 2019), 48, has faced serious allegations from a series of women who were revealed in an investigation by the Sunday Times and Channel 4 Dispatches programme.
Russell Brand on Big Brother’s Little Brother in 2006. Several women have accused him of sexual assault and predatory behavior.
A third claimed that Brand sexually assaulted her while she was working with him in Los Angeles. She alleged that she had repeatedly told him to leave her aside and when she finally did, she “flipped.”
The fourth claimed that Brand sexually assaulted her in the United Kingdom and accused him of physically and emotionally abusing her.
In the wake of the scandal, a fifth woman lodged a complaint with the Metropolitan Police, alleging that she was sexually assaulted by the star in Soho, London, in 2003.
Another accused Brand of locking her in a dressing room and pinning her to the couch with a “glazed” expression on his face. The alleged incident, as reported by The Sun, took place in 2008, when the comedian was 33, after a concert in west London.
A woman also came forward claiming Brand exposed himself to her in an office where BBC Los Angeles operated from in 2008, before going to pre-record a program for Radio 2 where he appeared to joke about the alleged incident.
And another, who called herself Sarah to protect her identity, claimed the comedian had left her feeling “vulnerable and intimidated” after he allegedly refused to get her a taxi until she performed a sex act.
After Scotland Yard launched a criminal investigation into Brand, the Mail revealed last month that Thames Valley Police were also investigating “information in relation to allegations of harassment and stalking” made by a woman.
Brand, who has strongly denied all allegations against him, has built a large audience on social media. He has over 11 million followers on X (formerly known as Twitter), and also hosts daily live streams on video site Rumble to hundreds of thousands of viewers.