Keith Lemon breaks silence on Russell Brand allegations as says he 'feel sad'
Keith Lemon has broken his silence on Russell Brand following sexual assault allegations being made against him.
Brand, 48, has been accused of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse at the height of his fame in an investigation by The Times, The Sunday Times and Channel 4's Dispatches – allegations which he vehemently denies. The Hollywood star and comedian is facing allegations of sexual assaults and abusive and predatory behaviour between 2006 and 2013, when he was at the height of his fame.
Breaking his silence on the allegations made against his friend, Keith, whose real name is Leigh Francis, has said that he feels the situation is 'sad' for both Russell and the women involved. Speaking to Mail Online, the comedian said: "I promised myself I wouldn’t comment on it - it’s just sad, isn’t it? It’s a saddening thing for everyone. It’s sad for the ladies, it’s sad for his family and it’s sad for him."
Keith Lemon breaks silence on Russell Brand allegations as says he 'feel sad' for comedian (Brett D. Cove / SplashNews.com)
Russell has denied all allegations made against him (PA)The allegations were made about the comedian, 48, during Channel 4's explosive Dispatches documentary, which stemmed from a joint investigation with The Times and Sunday Times. Prior to the broadcast on Saturday, September 19, Brand took to YouTube claiming there were "serious allegations" made against him, which he "absolutely refutes" and strongly denies.
Following the broadcast, remaining tour dates were postponed and a fifth woman claimed to have been sexually assaulted by the comedian. Brand's content on Channel 4 has been removed by the broadcaster following the allegations being made public on Saturday and the BBC has confirmed that they are looking into allegations of misconduct by Brand during his time working for the corporation as a matter of urgency.
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The Metropolitan Police last week released a new statement following release of the Sunday Times story and Dispatches programme, stating they have now received a report of a sexual assault, which is alleged to have happened in London 20 years ago. Officers confirmed they are in contact with the woman.
On Tuesday, YouTube suspended the monetisation of Brand’s channel for "violating our Creator Responsibility policy". In a statement, YouTube said: "We have suspended monetisation on Russell Brand’s channel for violating our Creator Responsibility policy. If a creator’s off-platform behaviour harms our users, employees or ecosystem, we take action to protect the community."
Brand was accused of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse by four women in the Dispatches documentary, which aired on Saturday at 9pm. The incidents are said to have taken place between 2006 and 2013. However, the Get Him to the Greek star shared a video statement on his YouTube channel before the programme, vehemently denying 'criminal' and 'very serious' allegations he said had been put to him by two media outlets, describing it as a "coordinated attack".
Addressing his millions of followers ahead of the broadcast, Brand said: "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?"
Following Dispatches airing over the weekend, Dame Maria Miller MP, former culture secretary and women’s minister, suggested non-disclosure agreements should be outlawed in the entertainment industry if they have been used to silence people over alleged incidents involving Brand.
She told Sky News’ Politics Hub on Monday that the organisations involved should provide "an explanation as to why they didn’t have practices in place for people who wanted to speak out". "I think they’ve got to be held accountable for the way they’re treating their staff,” she said.
"I also want to dig more into some of the comments that were made over the weekend about people not feeling still able to speak out about these instances and particularly comments from both the BBC and also the talent company which made me feel that maybe non-disclosure agreements had been used potentially leading to people being silenced about things which are now patently issues that could be criminal allegations."
Asked whether the use of NDAs should be looked at, she replied: "We’ve seen not only in this case but in other instances where media organisations have routinely been… been using industry standard non-disclosure secrecy provisions within contracts that they use when people suffer unlawful wrongdoing at work. I hope this isn’t the case here, but if it is I hope it gives impetus to the Government to take action."
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The MP added: "There’s been action taken to stop use of NDAs in universities and perhaps this instance with Russell Brand, if there are non-disclosure agreements involved, would indicate we need to take the same action to outlaw their use across… the entertainment industry too."
If you've been the victim of sexual assault, you can access help and resources via or calling the national telephone helpline on 0808 802 9999.
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