British stand-up comedian London Hughes spoke out against Russell Brand on Sunday following the premiere of a Channel 4 documentary that outlined several sexual assault and rape allegations against the popular actor and comedian. And with her comments, she made it clear that his alleged predation had long been an open secret.
“I was newly signed with Russell’s agent at the height of his career, I was a HUGE fan of the man… So excited to meet him! But my first day at the agency i was told unprovoked that I shouldn’t sleep with him under any circumstances, as he likes to pursue women, have sex with them,” the 34-year-old comic tweeted. “But as soon as he had sex with them, they’d made him feel sick and he didn’t want to be around them anymore, so he would have them fired, or dropped from the agency… it had happened several times in the past. I was 22 at the time, did what I was told and completely avoided him.”
Hughes went on to say of Brand, “This is not some cheeky misunderstood man. I am not shocked by the documentary at all, I believe everything those brave women said.”
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Asked directly if she was aware of his alleged behavior before the most recent revelations, the author of Living My Best Life, Hun: Following Your Dreams Is No Joke added, “There’s not a single comedian in the uk that wasn’t aware of his behaviour. We’ve all heard the rumours…. I personally didn’t know it was as bad as r*** … but I always had the understanding that he was, for lack of a better word ‘dodgy’ and I should avoid him.”
While Hughes did not name the agent she shared with Brand, she is currently repped by the United Talent Agency-owned Curtis Brown, which also owns the Tavistock Wood agency that dropped Brand as a client this weekend following the rape allegations. Brand’s now-former agency Tavistock Wood reportedly knew about the sexual assault claim against Brand by a 16-year-old girl in 2020 but declined to take action at that time.
“Russell Brand categorically and vehemently denied the allegation made in 2020, but we now believe we were horribly misled by him,” Tavistock Wood said in a statement Sunday.
