BBC apologises after report into comedian’s behaviour

The BBC has apologised to staff who felt they could not speak up with concerns about Russell Brand’s behaviour because he was seen as “too influential” and they felt he “would always get his way and therefore they stayed silent”.

The apology came as the BBC published the findings of an internal review into Brand’s time as a presenter for BBC Radio 2 and 6 Music between 2006 and 2008.

The investigation considered eight complaints, two of which were made while he worked for the corporation.

One of those, which related to him urinating into a cup and behaving aggressively during his Radio 2 show, was registered formally at the time, and the BBC has now admitted it was “not dealt with effectively”.

The BBC launched the investigation after several women accused the 49-year-old actor and comedian in 2023 of rape, sexual assaults and emotional abuse.

Brand has denied all allegations and said his relationships were “always consensual”.

Thursday’s report found that “only one formal complaint was made about Brand’s inappropriate conduct in the workplace” during his stint on air, and beyond that there was “no evidence that his behaviour was raised with management formally at the time”.

But the BBC acknowledged that Brand was “perceived to be too influential” for staff to complain about.

Many of those interviewed for the internal investigation “believed, rightly or wrongly, that Russell Brand would always get his way and therefore they stayed silent”, the report said.

While one informal complaint was also made, the report said “it is clear that there were other concerns but those involved felt unable or unwilling to raise these at the time as they felt the concerns would not be taken seriously and the systems for making complaints were not as clear as they are now”.

It added that “there should have been better systems in place to ensure that Brand’s unacceptable behaviour was promptly picked up and addressed”.

The review also found that Brand had consensual sex with a competition winner from his 6 Music show on BBC premises.

Speaking to the review team, that person said that while what happened was consensual, they now felt “Brand had abused his position and taken advantage of them”.

A BBC employee made a formal complaint to a manager in 2007 after Brand urinated into a cup in the Radio 2 studio, and then threw objects in anger when one of the production team made a mistake during a second show.

The report said it was likely that this was then raised verbally with the Radio 2 controller at the time, Lesley Douglas, although she does “not recall these concerns ever being raised with her”.

The BBC made light of the incident in a press response at the time, the report said, when a spokesperson told the Independent that Brand had urinated in a cup “and someone has shown him where the toilet is”.

“Regrettably this incident was not taken seriously at this time,” the report said.

Another staff member said they had raised concerns informally about Brand’s conduct in 2006 and 2007, the report said.

A complaint was made to the BBC about a separate incident in Los Angeles in 2008.

Brand is alleged to have followed “Olivia” into a bathroom and shown his penis to her moments before he began pre-recording his radio show.

The woman, who was not a BBC employee but worked in the same building, did not complain at the time, thinking “she would not be believed”.

The report found no evidence of anyone in BBC management being aware of Olivia’s experience at the time.

In 2019, a BBC News staff member raised the incident with their line manager after Olivia confirmed she wanted to take the matter further.

“It is likely those involved in escalating the complaint in 2019 felt that there was nothing that could be done as it was over ten years later,” the report said.

It concluded that the complaint process was “inadequate”, as was the handling of the 2019 complaint, and the BBC has apologised to Olivia.

Another of the complaints in the report was made by a woman named Alice, who said a car provided by the BBC for Brand collected her and took her to his house when he was in his 30s and she was a 16-year-old schoolgirl.

The report concluded that it was not able to verify these claims but it was “unlikely that the cars described by Alice were chauffer driven BBC cars or BBC management cars”.

The report, and Alice, agree that if Brand did “persuade a taxi or mini-cab pre-booked on his behalf by the BBC to make these journeys, it’s likely to have been done without the knowledge of the BBC staff who booked his cars for him in advance”.

The review cost £662,062 and was conducted by the BBC’s director of editorial complaints and reviews, Peter Johnston.