On Tuesday, the BBC announced that two more people had complained about Russell Brand, after the British broadcaster launched its own investigation into the behavior of the famous actor and comedian, reports AP.
The BBC provided an update on its investigation after British media in September published claims by four women that they were sexually assaulted by Brand between 2006 and 2013, at the height of his fame. Brand, 48, denies the allegations.
The comedian worked as a radio presenter at the BBC from 2006 to 2008. The broadcaster said it had registered a total of five complaints against Brand, including from two people who raised complaints and concerns during Brand’s time at the BBC and again after he has left the corporation.
Another person made a separate complaint after Brand left, and two more people have come forward since the BBC launched its investigation in September.
A statement from Peter Johnston, the broadcaster’s director of editorial complaints, did not specify the nature of the latest allegations. The BBC news website reported that they “are understood to be related to his behavior at the workplace and are not of a serious sexual nature,” reports BTA.
The allegations against Brand, published in September by The Times and Sunday Times newspapers and in a Channel 4 documentary, include claims Brand sexually assaulted a woman during a relationship with him when she was 16. years. Another woman alleged that Brand raped her in Los Angeles in 2012. The accusers have not been named.
In relation to claims by one of the women that Brand used BBC cars to drive her home from school when she was 16, the broadcaster said it no longer had data on car bookings from that time . Johnston said investigations are ongoing.
“While my work is by no means complete and therefore I cannot yet draw any conclusions, it appears that no disciplinary action was taken against Russell Brand during his engagement with the BBC in 2006-8 before his departure from the corporation”, Johnston also said.
After the allegations were published, two police services in the UK – the Metropolitan Police and the Thames Valley Police – launched investigations into Brand.
Brand issued a statement saying that his connections “they have always been consensual”.
