Russell Brand's fresh statement in full as he pleads for support from fans
Russell Brand has broken his silence after facing allegations of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse.
The comedian and actor took to social media on Friday night for the first time since the Channel 4 Dispatches programme and The Times and Sunday Times investigations broke last weekend. Brand, who has denied all allegations, missed his daily YouTube and Rumble broadcasts throughout the week but took to Instagram where he addressed his followers.
In the clip, he said: "Hello there you awakening wonders, obviously, it's been an extraordinary and distressing week and I thank you very much for your support and for questioning the information you've been presented with. By now, you're probably aware that the British government have asked big tech platforms to censor our online content.
Brand took to Instagram to share his first post since allegations came to light (russellbrand / Instagram)
The comedian pleaded for support from his fans (Getty Images)"Some online platforms, have complied with that request. What you may not know is that this happens in the context of the Online Safety Bill – this is UK legislation that grants sweeping surveillance and censorship powers and is a law that has already been passed. I also don't imagine that you've heard of the trusted news initiative and now, as often is the case when a word like trusted is used as part of an acronym to describe an unelected body, trust is the last thing you should be offering.
"The trusted news initiative is a collaboration between big tech and legacy media organisations to target, patrol, choke and shut down independent media organisations like this one. We'll be talking about that on our show on Monday on Rumble but just to give you an idea on what the TNI is, this is a quote from one of their spokespeople," before the screen showed a message which read 'Because actually the real rivalry now is not between for example the BBC and CNN globally, it's actually between all trusted news providers and... digital platforms.'
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Russell added: "It's clear that these organisations collaborate in constructing narratives, whether that's around the war or the pandemic and of course, there are other examples. It's very clear to me that we have to be very, very cautious indeed – that's why I'm asking you to follow me on Rumble. Rumble have made a clear commitment to free speech, Rumble is the primary platform that we will be streaming from.
"We'll be back, this Monday and as usual, we'll be talking about deep state and corporate conclusion and how ordinary democracy is a m now and how it's shut down, ignored and avoided. We'll be talking a military-industrial complex, these are able to facilitate and start wars that seem little more to be money laundering operations and that's with all respect to the hundreds of thousands of victims of numerous ongoing wars in the world at the moment.
"We'll be talking about the role of big pharma and how big pharma have been able to influence government policy around the world and how they've been able to evade due liability and necessary scrutiny, how they've been able to avoid media investigation or perhaps, be due them.
"And of course, we'll be talking about media corruption and censorship, so please, follow me on Rumble because that's the only way that we can keep our voice. I need your support now more than ever, more than I ever imagined I would. So follow me, support our channel if you can, if it's within your means but more important than any of that, is that you please, if you can, stay free."
* 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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