Russell Brand's former comedy co-host Matt Morgan's life now after fallout
Matt Morgan previously worked alongside Russell Brand, who has recently denied allegations of rape and sexual abuse made against him. He shares multiple writing credits with Brand, who strenuously denies the accusations, which were broadcast on Channel 4's Dispatches and published in The Times and The Sunday Times.
After meeting on the set of MTV, the pair co-hosted BBC Radio 2's The Russell Brand Show from its conception to it's 2008 demise following 48-year old Brand's resignation over prank telephone calls made to actor Andrew Sachs. They later joined forces again, meanwhile, on TalkRadio's incarnation of the same show as well as appearing together on XFM and the Russell Brand Podcast.
Morgan, who shares a mutual friend with Brand in the form of Oasis star, Noel Gallagher, tends to shun the limelight, however, with little known about his private life. In 2020 he launched a podcast of his own; Matt Morgan's Funny How? With weekly releases including guests such as Noel Gallagher and fellow comedian Joel Lycett, the show has since rebranded as The Matt Morgan Podcast and is a subscription-only broadcast on Patreon. Morgan and Gallagher have also appeared together on a number occasions down the years, co-presenting shows on XFM, Radio X and Absolute Radio.
Although Brand and Matt worked together on radio shows, the pair once fell out. In a Radio X chat recorded in 2017, meanwhile, Morgan and Brand seemingly referred to a past fallout.
Asked by a listener to discuss when "the bad thing happened" that led to Morgan failing to appear on a previous show, Brand explained: "I was getting quite egotistical and you've got your own ego [looking towards Morgan]. Everyone's got an ego."
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Morgan and Brand share a mutual pal in Oasis star, Noel GallagherMorgan responded: "Well listen to that – defensive." Laughing, he continued imitating Brand's voice: "Well everyone's got an ego, everyone's got a mansion they won't let their friend stay in." It prompted Brand to add: "You were at the heart of that mansion – I loved having you there. Were you being a problem?"
"I was as quiet as a church mouse," replied Morgan. "I lived in the pool house sleeping on an inflatable." Confused, Brand then asked: "So you had to move out? What did you do? You must have done something."
"I didn't do anything. I broke a swimming pool cover on the Isle of Wight but that must have been years before, or after. It wasn't then." Bidding to end the chat, Brand declared: "Well you must have done something. Old Russ is a judicious leader."
But Morgan hit back once more, stating: "This is the funny thing about it. You said we won't get on if we live in the same house."
A further accusation rocked Brand yesterday, meanwhile, dating back to his time hosting alongside Morgan in Los Angeles in 2008. A woman, who has chosen to remain anonymous, came forward with a fresh claim following an alleged incident she says took place whilst she was working for an organisation in the same US building as the Beeb.
The woman never made a formal complaint, however, BBC management was informed about the incident in 2019, but no formal action was taken. She says she answered the door to Brand and his team on June 16, who were set to pre-record an episode of The Russell Brand Show.
The woman adds that she went to the bathroom to get her medication and walked past the radio studio. She says that while she was squatting to look through the medicine cabinet, she felt someone behind her. The woman turned around to face a man's crotch. "I was startled and got up and I realised it was the man that I'd let in – Russell," she told BBC News.
Morgan explained his fall out with Brand on air in 2017She recalled him saying: "Oh, I think you're a bit alright. I think you're a bit of alright," and that he was going to call her Betty. The woman said that wasn't her name, and claims he replied: "Well, I'm gonna f**k you." "And I said: 'No, you're not.'" She says he then pulled out his penis on his hand and "pretty much served it to me as you would be serving someone some food". The woman said she felt trapped as the bathroom door was closed.
She said he then put his penis back in his trousers, and she heard someone banging on the door, at which point Brand left. The woman returned to her desk and texted a BBC employee about the incident. He informed her he already knew what had happened as Brand was talking about it. Following the recent allegations against Brand, the woman tracked down the programme being recorded on that day.
The episode aired on 21 June 2008 and featured an exchange between Brand and Matt Morgan. In the clip, Morgan said: "It's been 25 minutes since he showed his willy to a lady." A laughing Brand said: "Very easy to judge! Very easy to judge! Look…" Morgan quipped: "Receive this! He got told off for ringing a bell, minutes later he's showing his willy." Brand could be heard laughing in the background.
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Speaking to Dispatches, Morgan explained: "I stopped working with Russell Brand several years ago. During the time I worked with him, I was never aware of any allegations of serious sexual misconduct against him. I absolutely condemn all forms of mistreatment of women. Looking back on the time I spent working on radio at the BBC, I am regretful to learn that a show I was part of made colleagues uncomfortable at times."
And reiterating his stance in a further statement, he told the BBC's News at 10: "I was not aware until now of the nature of this encounter. I’ve expressed my regrets now looking back at the impact of the show, and this is a further example. The recent coverage has been very distressing to read and I reiterate my absolute condemnation of any form of mistreatment of women."
Brand insists all his sexual relationships have been consensualDiscussing the allegations against him in a statement last Friday (September 15) Brand said: "Now, this isn't the usual type of video we make on this channel where we critique, attack and undermine the news in all its corruption because in this story, I am the news. I've received two extremely disturbing letters or a letter and an email.
"One from a mainstream media TV company, one from a newspaper listing a litany of extremely egregious and aggressive attacks, as well as some pretty stupid stuff like community festival should be stopped, that I shouldn't be able to attack mainstream media narratives on this channel. But 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.
"Then almost too transparent, and I'm being transparent about it now as well. And to see that transparency metastasized into something criminal that I absolutely deny makes me question, is there another agenda at play? Particularly when we've seen coordinated media attacks before, like with Joe Rogan, when he dared to take a medicine that the mainstream media didn't approve of, and we saw a spate of headlines from media outlets across the world using the same language."
*If you've been the victim of sexual assault, you can access help and resources via www.rapecrisis.org.uk or calling the national telephone helpline on 0808 802 9999.
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