Comedian Katherine Ryan has broken her silence following the explosive allegations against Russell Brand.
Ryan has faced a lot of attention following the accusations, as she has previously spoken out about an unnamed “predator” within the British comedy scene whose behaviour was an “open secret”.
Last weekend, news of a joint investigation by Channel 4, The Times and Sunday Times broke, which looked into a host of allegations against comedian and actor Russell Brand.
Channel 4’s Dispatches broadcast an extended documentary covering the allegations, with the newspapers also publishing their reports over the weekend.
Brand was accused by 4 different women of assaulting them between the years of 2006 and 2013, during the height of his fame. The allegations include r*pe, emotional abuse and sexual assault. All 4 of the women have chosen to remain anonymous.
One of the women accused Brand of r*ping her at his Los Angeles home, and sought treatment at a r*pe crisis centre the next day.
A second said that she entered into a relationship with him when she was sixteen years old and he was thirty-one. She claimed that during their time together Brand was emotionally abusive and controlling.
A third woman said that he assaulted her at his Los Angeles house, and threatened legal action if she told anyone.
The fourth accuser said that Brand sexually assaulted her, and also claimed that he was physically and emotionally abusive.
The investigation took place over several years, with journalists having accessed text messages, medical files and Brand’s biography.
Brand has denied all the accusations against him. In a statement shared to his social media, he said the accusations “pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream.”
“As I have written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous,” he said.
“Now during that time of promiscuity the relationships I had were absolutely, always consensual. I was always transparent about that then, almost too transparent, and I am being transparent about it now as well.
“To see that transparency metastasised into something criminal, that I absolutely deny, makes me question – is there another agenda at play?”
In the wake of the allegations, a magnifying glass has been turned Katherine Ryan’s previous comments on an unidentified “predator” in the comedy industry.
Ryan was previously a guest on an episode of Louis Theroux’s BBC Interviews series. While there, Ryan spoke candidly with the journalist about an “open secret” in the TV business.
In the groundbreaking interview, she called out a man in the entertainment industry for his predatory behaviour.
She told Theroux: “It’s very dangerous for us to have this conversation.
“I’m happy to have it, but it’s a litigious minefield because lots of people have tried to nail this person down for their alleged crimes and this person has very good lawyers, so am I going to put my mortgage on the line by saying who this person is or entering into any conversations like that?”
She added: “We’ve seen what happens to people who talk about alleged predators.”
The comedian continued by asserting that she had not herself been a victim.
Ryan continued: “It’s not really my story to tell. No one has perpetrated any sexual assault against me, but this person, I believe very strongly – many people believe very strongly – is an open secret, is a perpetrator of sexual assault.”
She continued by saying that she had challenged the nameless person about their behaviour when they worked alongside each other on a TV show one time.
She alleged: “I called him a predator to his face and in front of everyone that day.
“What am I supposed to do? It’s such a messy thing because I don’t have proof. What, am I not supposed to feed my children because of someone else?”
“I still got paid and I still did my job, but I did it in my way, which I thought was fair,” Ryan added.
However, now the allegations against Brand are public, people have been waiting for Ryan to acknowledge her previous comments. During a recent show at RTS Cambridge, she joked about the “elephant in the room,” per the Mail Online.
However, the comedian then reportedly went on to refer to this “elephant” as being her 2-stone weight loss. She avoided any direct mention of Brand.
