Details of BBC’s Russell Brand investigation revealed: findings due in ‘weeks not months’
The BBC’s Director-General has announced a review of Russell Brand’s behaviour during his time working with the broadcaster, with the outcome due in “weeks not months.”
According to a report by Deadline, Tim Davie said to colleagues this afternoon: “We’ll look at any complaints made about Russell Brand’s conduct during his time, what was known at the time, what was done – so full transparency, we’re digging into anything that we’ve got there.
“I’m hoping for an initial report in weeks, not months. So this is not something we want to take too long [over], but we do want to get to the facts.”
Davie added that he had listened back to Russell Brand’s BBC broadcasts and found them “completely unacceptable,” asking: “What led to that being on air?”
Read more: Youtube halts monetisation on Russell Brand’s channel
Davie was in charge of overseeing BBC radio coverage during the time in which Brand was sacked for telling Fawlty Towers star Andrew Sachs he wanted to have sex with his grand-daughter.
Over the past couple of days, multiple women have alleged comedian Russell Brand sexually abused them. The first four women spoke out to The Times, The Sunday Times and Channel 4. One female says she was 16 at the time she dated Brand, and was ferried from school to Brand’s house in BBC cars.
Read more: Russell Brand: Pan Macmillan publisher ‘pausing’ all future projects with comedian
She alleges Russell Brand told her to lie to her parents about their relationship. Another claims Brand raped her in his Los Angeles home. Yesterday, a separate woman went to the police to file a report about an alleged assault in 2003 and journalists claimed more women have come forward with allegations.
According to the Standard, Davie added that these were “very serious allegations”.
“I think it’s absolutely right that we’ve said, along with organisations, that we urgently look at the issues that have been raised, and that goes across a number of organisations including the BBC.”
City PM has reached out to the BBC for comment