Abstract
On September 16th, 2023, Channel 4’s Russell Brand in Plain Sight: Dispatches aired allegations of the celebrity comedian’s sexual misconduct with women over the course of his career. The documentary, which was dramatically revealed in the schedule only the day before transmission, resulted in significant international press attention, several internal reviews of production company practices, and the opening of an ongoing police investigation (Booth, 2023).
After starting out as a circuit comic in 2000, Russell Brand’s ‘rebranding’ across the 2010s saw him assume the role of political commentator (Arthurs and Little, 2016) before finding an audience as an online addiction recovery/ wellness influencer. His professional transition away from edgy sexually explicit stand-up comic to online wellbeing influencer gave him a platform, underpinned by a narrative of personal development, from which to distance himself from his past behaviour when allegations emerged. The specifics of comic fame, however, limited his ability to ‘self-cleave’ (McDonell, 2024) in the way non-comic celebrities have done in order to deny and distract from similar allegations.
This article explores the discourses evoked by Brand and his supporters as part of denying sexual assault allegations outlined in the 2023 documentary. By maintaining his innocence using language reminiscent of the ‘anti-woke’ manosphere (Lawson, 2023), and positioning himself as an outsider to the mainstream media (despite, at the peak of his fame, being enmeshed in such spaces and discourses), Brand provoked other politically right-leaning public figures and conspiracists (e.g., Elon Musk, Alex Jones, Andrew Tate) to leverage their status to defend him online. This article scrutinises how Brand tried to take control of the exposé narrative by positioning himself as a victim of post-#MeToo cancel culture, and framing his suspension from certain monetized online platforms (without a trial) as a freedom of speech issue. Brand’s appeal to online manosphere communities, through his contemporary ‘conspiritual’ (Ward and Voas, 2011) persona, is discussed in terms of being symptomatic of a wider crisis of contemporary masculinity.
After starting out as a circuit comic in 2000, Russell Brand’s ‘rebranding’ across the 2010s saw him assume the role of political commentator (Arthurs and Little, 2016) before finding an audience as an online addiction recovery/ wellness influencer. His professional transition away from edgy sexually explicit stand-up comic to online wellbeing influencer gave him a platform, underpinned by a narrative of personal development, from which to distance himself from his past behaviour when allegations emerged. The specifics of comic fame, however, limited his ability to ‘self-cleave’ (McDonell, 2024) in the way non-comic celebrities have done in order to deny and distract from similar allegations.
This article explores the discourses evoked by Brand and his supporters as part of denying sexual assault allegations outlined in the 2023 documentary. By maintaining his innocence using language reminiscent of the ‘anti-woke’ manosphere (Lawson, 2023), and positioning himself as an outsider to the mainstream media (despite, at the peak of his fame, being enmeshed in such spaces and discourses), Brand provoked other politically right-leaning public figures and conspiracists (e.g., Elon Musk, Alex Jones, Andrew Tate) to leverage their status to defend him online. This article scrutinises how Brand tried to take control of the exposé narrative by positioning himself as a victim of post-#MeToo cancel culture, and framing his suspension from certain monetized online platforms (without a trial) as a freedom of speech issue. Brand’s appeal to online manosphere communities, through his contemporary ‘conspiritual’ (Ward and Voas, 2011) persona, is discussed in terms of being symptomatic of a wider crisis of contemporary masculinity.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Celebrity Studies |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published (VoR) - 17 Oct 2025 |