Originally published via Armageddon Prose Substack:
One might have supposed that, after #MeToo rape hoax after rape hoax, that we might have moved on as a civilization from seriously countenancing anonymous rape allegations – or even non-anonymous ones when they’re decades old and the accuser is an obviously unhinged lunatic.
Related: Trump Rape Accuser’s DERANGED Rachel Maddow Interview
Yet such accusations offer an entirely too juicy excuse for the power structure to initiate censorship and de-personing of its political targets, and so here we are.
Via The Times (UK):
“Four women have alleged sexual assaults between 2006 and 2013, while he was a presenter for BBC Radio 2 and Channel 4 and then an actor in Hollywood films. Others have made a range of accusations about Brand’s controlling, abusive and predatory behaviour.
Brand denied the allegations and said his relationships have all been consensual.
The findings come from a joint investigation by The Sunday Times, The Times and Channel 4 Dispatches…
“All said they felt ready to speak only after being approached by reporters. Several said they felt compelled to do so given Brand’s newfound prominence as an online wellness influencer, with millions of followers on YouTube and other sites.
The others have accused him of physical and emotional abuse, sexual harassment and bullying.
Most of the women, who do not know each other, have chosen to remain anonymous…
Over the past few years, reporters have interviewed hundreds of sources who knew or worked with Brand: ex-girlfriends and their friends and family, comedians and other celebrities, people who worked with him on radio and TV, and senior staff at the BBC, Channel 4 and other media organisations.
Along with these interviews reporters have seen private emails and text messages, submitted freedom of information requests, viewed medical and therapists’ notes, scrutinised Brand’s books and interviews, and watched and listened to hundreds of hours of his shows on the BBC, Channel 4 and YouTube to corroborate allegations.”
So, to recap: BBC, Channel 4, and other mainstream media organizations, with collective millions and likely billions of expendable resources between them, assigned reporters to comb through “hundreds of hours” of Brand´s shows and talk to hundreds of his former acquaintances (or at least alleged acquaintances) in search of the Holy Grail of a rape allegation.
In the end, for all that effort, the best they could come up with was four anonymous accusers who allege crimes that took place anywhere from almost two decades ago to a decade ago. These women are so brave and stunning that they dare not show their faces, and so committed to accountability that they hide behind the protection of the media outlets that groomed them to cultivate their unproven and, likely, unprovable stories.
Furthermore, the accusers explicitly acknowledge – which for any decent person would undermine their credibility to the point of dismissing them entirely – that the only reason they came forward now was at the behest of said media companies and because of Brand’s “newfound prominence.”
The totality of the evidence – no disclosure of the accusers’ identities, no due process, no opportunity for Brand to face his accusers — was apparently sufficient for YouTube to fully demonetize Brand´s show.
Via Business Insider:
“YouTube said Tuesday that Russell Brand will no longer make money from the video streaming site after several women made allegations of sexual assault against the comedian-turned-influencer.
The BBC removed some of Brand’s material from its streaming archive, joining a growing list of organizations distancing themselves from the performer, who denies sexual assault and has not been charged with any criminal offenses.”
Ben Bartee, author of Broken English Teacher: Notes From Exile, is an independent Bangkok-based American journalist with opposable thumbs.
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