The Japan Times - UK comedian Russell Brand faces two new rape, assault charges: police

The media personality turned anti-establishment influencer already pleaded not guilty in May to five charges -- one count of rape, one of oral rape, two of sexual assault and one of indecent assault between 1999 and 2005.

"These new charges are in relation to two further women and are in addition to the charges issued to Brand in April 2025 which involved four women," the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

It stressed the total charges now related to six women after further police investigations.

Brand, 50, the ex-husband of US singer Katy Perry, has been summoned to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on January 20 to face the two new charges.

A trial is set to begin at Southwark Crown Court on June 16 on the five original charges.

Prosecutors charged Brand following a police probe into allegations aired in a Channel 4 documentary.

He is accused of raping one woman in a hotel room following an event in the southern Bournemouth area in 1999.

Another charge relates to the oral rape and sexual assault of a woman in 2004 in central London.

In a video response on X after he was charged in April, Brand said he was "grateful" for the "opportunity" to defend himself.

"I was a fool before I lived in the light of the Lord. I was a drug addict, a sex addict and an imbecile, but what I never was was a rapist. I've never engaged in non-consensual activity," he said in the video.

Detective Chief Inspector Tariq Farooqi said that the women who have reported Brand's alleged behaviour "continue to receive support from specially trained officers".

He added the police investigation was ongoing and urged "anyone affected by this case, or anyone with information, to come forward".

Born in 1975 to working-class parents in Essex, east of London, Brand began his stand-up career as a teenager, eventually working as an MTV presenter and host of a Big Brother spin-off.

He presented a show on the BBC's Radio 2 station between 2006 and 2008, but quit after an on-air prank when he left a sexually explicit voicemail for "Fawlty Towers" actor Andrew Sachs about his granddaughter.

Once a left-leaning political campaigner and Hollywood star, he has rebranded himself as a conservative guru to his millions of social media followers.

Last year, he said he became a Christian after being baptised in the Thames river.

H.Nakamura--JT