The blind defenses of Russell Brand

Comedian, actor, raconteur, and of-late YouTuber Russell Brand has recently been accused of a number of sexual offenses. This has set social and mainstream media alight with opinions ranging from "I told you so" to "say it ain't so" to "stand with Brand." Although there are mounting seemingly credible allegations surfacing concerning Brand, it might be ill-advised of me to cast any surefire moral evaluation over the claims, for the simple reason that I do not have the requisite information about these very personal claims to do so. That is, indeed, the point of this article.

But I think I am justified in claiming that Brand is in some deep trouble here.

Moving away from my own subjective judgment, I would like to analyze the subjective judgments of others.

Almost as soon as the allegations surfaced in the public information space, we witnessed a number of prominent "celebrities" dialing their support in for the beleaguered Brand.

The names of three such defenders of the British comedian might not come as a particular surprise to many. Xitter's owner Elon Musk, the former Fox News stalwart Tucker Carlson, and infamous misogynist accused of sex trafficking Andrew Tate, have all lent their public support to the man accused of rape. Add to this list former Mayor of London candidate Laurence Fox, a British anti-woke actor and right-wing political wannabe, and many others.

Brand's YouTube channel has seen healthy growth over the past five years, very much due to his positioning on a number of controversial issues, including his alignment with the anti-vaccine movement and Covid denialism and his distaste for the mainstream media.

This is certainly a case of putting personality before truth, personal judgment before evidence.

Using this platform, Russell Brand produced a video prior to the allegations surfacing to try to manage the damage. In response to Brand's criticisms of the mainstream media and the supposed coordinated attack (in his case, of Channel 4 and The Times in the UK), Elon Musk wrote on X, “Of course. They don’t like competition."

Ian Miles Cheong, notorious these days for controversial opinions, declared his solidarity: