Only comedian to speak against Russell Brand shared powerful message before doc
Just a handful of celebrities have spoken out after the eye-opening Russell Brand allegations came to light over the weekend - including Mock the Week star Jo Caulfield, and journalist Piers Morgan.
But one comedian who has been on the record in a joint investigation by The Times and Channel 4's Dispatches is Scottish comedian Daniel Sloss - and because of it, a previous clip has resurfaced online where he movingly talks about failing to do anything when a man he knew raped his friend. The documentary titled Russell Brand: In Plain Sight, which aired on Saturday night, accused the comedian of rape, sexual assault, and emotional abuse. Sloss, 33, was described as the 'only' comedian producers spoke with who was willing to go on the record about the star's alleged behaviour.
Brand, 48, who is expecting his third child with wife Laura Gallacher, 'absolutely refutes' the claims and on Friday the Get Him to the Greek star released a statement, which can be read in full here, claiming his 'transparency regarding his promiscuity' has been 'metastasized into something criminal'.
Daniel Sloss was featured in the Channel 4 Dispatches show (Redferns)Daniel Sloss, who has become known to millions of fans around the world thanks to his incredibly successful Netflix live shows, revealed that he heard rumours swirl in the industry regarding Brand's former behaviour at the height of his career - when the alleged incidents took place. Sloss says he became aware of WhatsApp groups involving female standups that were used to warn one another about people they had negative encounters with.
And in the documentary it was claimed journalists had seen some of the messages from one of the groups where Brand's name was allegedly mentioned. In the show, Sloss said: "There were many stories, it wasn't just coming from one person or group of people. It was different incidents over different years and varying degrees of severity."
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He continued: "...I'm stood in artist bars, with agents, promoters, channel commissioners, I'm hearing these allegations about Russell in the same room these people are in and then later on he would be in a movie, hosting something, he was still being employed. I know there are groups set up by female comedians where they warn each other of people in the industry - who to avoid, and I know for many many years, women have been warning each other about Russell."
Following his appearance in the documentary a standup clip has resurfaced on Twitter from a 2019 HBO special X and shows Sloss describing what happened when one of his friends committed rape. The assault does not relate to the allegations made against Brand. Sloss warned others not to make the same mistakes he did, by standing back and thinking nothing could be done. "I knew this man for eight years and he f**king did it," Sloss stated. "There are monsters amongst us and they look like us. If you are sick of the narrative that is currently going on about men, feel free to change it but you have to get involved.
"Don’t make the same mistake that I did for years, which was just sitting back like ‘well, I’m not part of the problem, therefore I must be part of the solution’ because that’s just not how this f**king s**t works. I believe and deep down I know that most men are good, but when one in 10 men are shit and the other nine do nothing they might as well not f**king be there.
Sloss claims there were warnings about Brand among female comedians (Channel 4)"Being good on the inside counts for absolutely f**k all. You have to actively do good and get involved. Instead of having this hero complex and being like ‘I’m going to beat up a rapist’ – f**king prevent one, stop one. I know it can be done because I know how I f**king failed at it. Because if I’m being 100 percent honest with myself, were there signs in my friend’s behaviour over the years towards women that I ignored? The answer is yes, and then he raped my friend, and that’s on me until the day I die."
Speaking directly to his followers in a YouTube video, Brand released a statement on Friday where he vehemently denied 'criminal' and 'serious' allegations that have been put to him by two media outlets, describing it as a "coordinated attack". He said: "Amidst this litany of astonishing rather baroque attacks, often very serious allegations that I absolutely refute. These allegations pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream, when I was in the newspapers all the time when I was in the movies. And as I've written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous. Now, during that time of promiscuity, the relationships I had were absolutely always consensual. I was always transparent about that."
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