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Brace yourself, because this whole interview is pretty gross.
Russell Brand is accused of raping multiple women, and is facing a slew of charges related to these alleged assaults.
Following a lengthy investigation, he is facing new rape charges.
Brand claims that he is innocent. He is also admitting to having sex with a 16-year-old when he was 30.
‘And I did sleep with a 16-year-old when I was 30’
On Wednesday, April 22, Brand appeared as a guest on The Megyn Kelly Show.
He spoke at length about many topics, appearing to claim at times that he had only delved into chemical escapes and sexual conquests — which he claims were all consensual — because some people in society do not believe in his god, but also because he was immature.
(That’s genuinely our best take at some of his statements. To try to refine them further would risk sanewashing.)
But he also described an encounter with a girl about half his age. He was 30. She was 16.
He does now admit that it was “exploitative.”
“The plain fact of it is, in Europe and in the United Kingdom, where I’m from, the age of consent is 16,” Brand said in his preemptive defense.
“And I did sleep with a 16-year-old when I was 30,” he confessed.
Brand is likely speaking to a friendly audience, as Megyn Kelly has split hairs about whether Epstein and his associates were truly pedophiles for their sex crimes against children.
(In society, we use “pedophile” to include hebephiles and ephebophiles, and view quibbling over this as a red flag — just as we view it as suspicious when someone seems overly familiar with the age of consent in too many places.)
“But when I was 30, I was a very different person,” Brand insisted. “I was a lot younger, and I was an immature 30 year old.”
‘I think it involves exploitation’
Brand went on to discuss what he called “consensual sex” and multiple times “when there is a strong power differential.”
He admittedly that, when he was a 30-year-old celebrity, he did in fact have a power differential with a 16-year-old girl.
“When you’re a famous man that has the ability to attract women that I had at that time, I think involves exploitation,” he commented. “I think it is exploitative.”
Brand continued: “I recognized that my sexual conduct in the past was selfish, and I did not apply enough consideration — barely any, I suppose, really — to how that sex was affecting other people.”
Brand also characterized his trials as a “blessing” or a thing for which to feel gratitude.
Or, more specifically, he discussed how trials — a general term for obstacles or difficult times — can be a blessing, and then acted as if his legal battles over alleged rapes and sexual assaults fit the same criteria.
There are those who believe that Brand’s public and somewhat abrupt hard-right shift several years ago was a preemptive response to knowing that lawsuits and criminal investigations were coming, as conservative audiences tend to be more receptive to accused sexual predators.
However, it is entirely possible — and perhaps more likely — that his conservative pivot is an earnest reflection of who he really is.
Brand is facing a slew of legal battles (and many wonder if more will come). Being his attorney as he begins yapping on podcasts about sleeping with high school students at 30 is probably no one’s dream job, no matter how well it pays.
Russell Brand Admits to Sleeping with 16-Year-Old Girl When He Was 30, Maintains All Sex … was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.