Russell Brand: Predatory behaviour was an ‘open secret’ among celebrities

Nearly 20 years before allegations of sexual abuse were publicly levelled at Russell Brand, Australia’s Dannii Minogue warned about his predatory behaviour.

In 2006 she told The Mirror, “He is completely crazy and a bit of a vile predator. I certainly don’t think he has cured his sex addiction, that’s for sure”.

“He wouldn’t take no for an answer.. . . He always goes that step too far. Never quite far enough to slap his face, but usually too far.

“He’s obviously very intelligent - but he wears more make-up than I do. Normally I love guys with eyeliner on. It can be very sexy, but not on Russell. Absolutely no way, never, he’s just not my type.

“I was told he got sacked from MTV in the past for wearing an Osama bin Laden costume to work the day after September 11.

“I couldn’t believe that I’d just agreed to be interviewed by someone who would do something like that, it really unnerved me. And then throughout the whole interview, he kept making shocking remarks that I can’t even repeat. Just uttering the words would make me blush.”

Female comics had also warned one another about Russell Brand’s lewd behaviour, with one saying it was the “worst kept secret in comedy”.

The industry, for decades dominated by men, is described as a “horrifically difficult place to be as a woman”.

Comedian Katherine Ryan told Louis Theroux last year there was an “open secret” that a male comic was a predator.

She told how she confronted the man, but he had “very good lawyers”.

Ms Ryan, 39, also prompted a guessing game last May after discussing the presence of an abuser working in TV with fellow comedian Sara Pascoe on her Amazon Prime show Backstage With Katherine Ryan.

The Canadian star said: “I’ve done a show with a person you and I believe is a predator”.

She added: “It’s such a messy thing because I don’t have proof. I raised it. I called him a predator to his face and in front of everyone every day.”

Ms Ryan and Ms Pascoe spent time at the Edinburgh Comedy festival when Brand was there in the late 2000’s.

Ms Ryan also appeared alongside Brand on a 2018 episode of the Comedy Central TV show Roast Battle.

The Mail has also been told of a separate incident during the filming of a comedy show where Brand was outed to the stars and audience as a predator but bosses insisted it was cut and everyone in the room had to sign an undertaking not to reveal the remarks.

Comedian Daniel Sloss has also claimed that women would warn each other about Russell Brand and his behaviour was openly discussed in the industry.

He told Channel 4’s Dispatches documentary how there were “many stories with varying degrees of severity” about Brand that came from a number of different people in the comedy circuit.

Mr Sloss said Brand was often spoken about in public, with many people in the comedy circuit aware of his alleged abusive and coercive behaviour.

He added that female comedians even spoke of him in WhatsApp groups which they used to warn each other which comedians to avoid.

He said: “For many, many years women have been warning each other about Russell”.

On Sunday a 2013 interview with Brand’s ex-wife Katy Perry resurfaced where she hinted that she had discovered some more of Brand’s indecent behaviour.

Speaking to the magazine shortly after their split, she said had initially taken “a lot of responsibility” for the break-up until she “found out the real truth”.

Ms Perry said she would keep this “truth”, which she could not “necessarily disclose”, locked away “for a rainy day”.