Comedian Brand accepts damages from paper

Published on Friday 22 June 2007 00:49

TELEVISION presenter and stand-up comedian Russell Brand yesterday accepted "substantial" damages from a newspaper after the flamboyant star claimed it implied he drugged and raped a girl during a party at his flat during the Edinburgh Festival.

Brand, 32, took legal action following a Daily Star front-page story published in September last year.

Carrying the headline "Russell Brand in Rape Quiz - I was drugged claims girl, 20", it related to allegations by a student that she was slipped a drugged drink and raped during a party at Brand's rented flat.

The story continued inside the newspaper under the headline: "I was drugged and raped in BB star Brand's flat."

Brand, who is renowned for his supposed sexual prowess and last year presented the Big Brother spin-off show for Channel 4, had been in Edinburgh in August to perform his one-man comedy show at the Assembly Rooms and Edinburgh International Conference Centre. The alleged incident took place on 28 August at the flat the celebrity was renting in North Castle Street.

Brand's solicitor, Paul Fox, told the High Court in London: "The meaning of the article was that there were reasonable grounds to suspect that the claimant drugged and raped a young woman. This was totally untrue.

"The claimant was never suspected of the alleged rape nor was there any evidence at all to involve him in its circumstances.

"Rather, at the police's request, he assisted them as a witness."

Mr Fox said that on the same day as the article, Brand, who is also a BBC disc jockey, was obliged to issue a press statement denying any involvement in the alleged rape.

Following the conclusion of the police inquiry in October, Brand sent a solicitors' letter, demanding an apology. It highlighted the fact that the article suggested he publicly expressed "abhorrence" of drugs, but in fact used them to facilitate rape.

Brand, a self-confessed former heroin user, became a patron of the drug rehabilitation charity Focus 12 in 2005.

Mr Fox said the demand for an apology was rejected and, in November, the Essex-born comedian began libel proceedings.

Express Newspapers - owners of the Daily Star - then made an unqualified offer of amends and, in December, published an apology in the newspaper.

Mr Fox added that the newspaper had agreed to pay Brand a substantial sum to compensate him for the harm done to his reputation, and his legal costs. "In these circumstances, Mr Brand feels that he has been vindicated in proceedings it was necessary for him to bring and is content to let the matter rest," Mr Fox said.

Nicole Patterson, counsel for Express Newspapers, said that it regretted publishing the article and its initial refusal to apologise. "The defendant offers its sincere apologies to Mr Brand and is pleased that the matter is now amicably resolved."

Brand was not in court for the brief hearing.

A 33-year-old radio presenter was later arrested by Lothian and Borders Police and charged with rape following the incident at Brand's flat. However, charges were later dropped due to lack of evidence.

Campbell Deane, a media lawyer, said last night: "In terms of libel law, what you have to do is look at the article as a whole, and that includes both the headline and the text to get the true meaning of the article.

"It doesn't mean you can't use headlines involving star names to sell newspapers. What it means is that if you are going to do that, you have to be pretty careful that the main thrust of the story neutralises the fact there was an involvement of that individual, for example by making clear they weren't involved or weren't there."

Brand's hugely popular run during the Edinburgh Festival - he played a dozen sell-out shows - marked an astonishing turn-around in his fortunes after going through a troubled time.

On one occasion six years ago, Brand appeared at Edinburgh's Late 'n' Live club, stripped to the waist. He proceeded to abuse the audience and was thrown out of the building. Before last year's Edinburgh shows, Brand was voted stand-up comedian of the year by Time Out magazine.

MARKETABLE LOTHARIO

THE louche style of a modern Byron, skin-tight jeans, heavy eyeliner and an undulating manner close to Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean all combine to make the marketable entity which is Russell Brand.

He is now highly sought after as a light entertainment presenter, with that status confirmed when he presented this year's Brit awards. He has had his own Channel 4 show, his own Radio 2 show and is branching out into straight acting.

His renaissance is all the more remarkable considering how the graduate of the Italia Conti Stage School in London blew his embryonic TV career on MTV. Spiralling drug use made Brand increasingly eccentric, and the station sacked him when he arrived for work shortly after the September 11 2001 New York attacks dressed as Osama bin Laden. After a spell in rehab, Brand's big break came when he presented the Big Brother spin-off shows in 2004.

He is also known for his lothario lifestyle and was romantically linked last year with Kate Moss. He says: "I'm excited by extremity. Whether sex, food or going on holiday, whenever I'm confronted with a decision, I always do the thing that'll be the best anecdote."