Noel Fielding Breaks Silence On Russell Brand Friendship After His Prison Sentencing

What happened, in order

Russell Brand, 51, was convicted last Thursday, Nov. 5, at Southwark Crown Court in London, and sentenced four days later, on Monday, Nov. 9. "The total sentence is one of ten years, six months," Judge Justice Bennathan said, handing down the sentence live on camera, according to NPR.

The conduct behind the case spanned 2004 to 2009. Jurors heard that Brand raped a woman he had met at one of his shows in 2009, and separately sexually assaulted three other women — at a bar in 2004, at a radio station in 2005, and at a TV studio — during that same stretch of years, NPR reported.

Over four weeks of trial, six women testified against Brand. The jury convicted him on four of the seven counts he faced and acquitted him on two further rape charges and one count of attempted indecent assault, according to NME.

Brand has denied all the charges and says he never had non-consensual sex, NPR reported. At sentencing, he wore the same suit he had been convicted in and held a set of white rosary beads while the victims' statements were read. His wife, Laura, and his father were both in court.

Who's involved in this case

Russell Brand is the British comedian, actor and broadcaster convicted and sentenced in this case. He rose to fame in the early 2000s as a stand-up comic and MTV host before moving into film, political commentary and, later, wellness and conspiracy content.

Four women brought the charges against him. None have been publicly named, and the trial itself was not televised. One testified that Brand raped her at his home in 2009; the other three described being sexually assaulted between 2004 and 2009, at a bar, a radio station and a TV studio.

Noel Fielding, 53, is a comedian and current Great British Bake Off host who worked alongside Brand throughout the 2000s on television, radio and the comedy circuit. He is not accused of any wrongdoing, and nothing in the coverage suggests he knew of Brand's conduct toward women.

Jonathan Ross, a broadcaster who also worked with Brand and with comedian David Walliams, issued his own statement this week distancing himself from both men. Walliams faces separate allegations unconnected to this case and denies them.

"I was horrified and deeply disturbed to learn of Russell Brand's crimes, which I was completely unaware of until they became public knowledge." — Noel Fielding, in a statement to The Sun

What the record actually says

Brand was charged with seven counts: one count of rape and six additional counts of rape, sexual assault and attempted indecent assault spread across four complainants. The jury returned guilty verdicts on four counts — the rape and three of the sexual assault charges — and acquitted him on the remaining three.

At sentencing, prosecutors argued for a long term, pointing to what they called aggravating circumstances in the rape conviction, including that Brand removed a condom during the assault, according to NPR.

The defense argued for leniency on different grounds, telling the court Brand was "a fundamentally different person" than the man who committed the offenses years earlier. That argument went to the length of the sentence, not to his guilt, which the jury had already decided.

The judge, weighing both sides along with the victim impact statements, told the court Brand had become "a sexual predator" before imposing the 10-year, six-month term and pausing "to pay tribute to the determination and bravery" of the women who came forward, per NPR.

What the women told the court

Three of the four victim impact statements were read aloud by the prosecution; one woman appeared in court behind a curtain to read her own. The woman Brand was convicted of raping said in her statement, read by prosecutors: "It's something I carry with me every day and it often feels never-ending," adding that she had lost trust in "my ability to make good decisions," according to NPR.

The woman assaulted at a bar in 2004, when Brand grabbed her breasts, told the court that confusion over what she "should" or "could" do had stayed with her for more than 20 years, and that she felt "physically sick" watching Brand's fame grow afterward.

A third woman, assaulted in 2005, said the attack had "a lasting impact" on her life and that hearing Brand's voice on television still made her "jump." A fourth, assaulted at a TV studio where the two worked together, said the experience left her feeling her workplace was unsafe.

Noel Fielding's statement

Fielding issued a statement to The Sun after the sentencing, addressing his years working alongside Brand for the first time since the allegations became public.

"I was horrified and deeply disturbed to learn of Russell Brand's crimes, which I was completely unaware of until they became public knowledge. My thoughts are with the women whose courage brought him to justice," Fielding said, per the Guardian.

"I appeared on TV, radio and live charity shows with him, and whilst we played it up for the cameras and in the media, I considered it a professional relationship, rather than a personal one. I have had no contact with him for many years," he said.

He also addressed old material the two performed together: "Looking back at some of the jokes I made alongside him, I was appalled. They were horrible and inappropriate, and I very much regret them."

The old footage resurfacing now

Fielding and Brand met at the NME Awards in the early 2000s and went on to perform as a comedy duo called The Goth Detectives, including at a 2013 Teenage Cancer Trust benefit at London's Royal Albert Hall organized by Noel Gallagher. They also appeared together on a 2019 episode of The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up to Cancer, filmed in 2018 and later pulled from Channel 4's streaming service in 2023.

Clips circulating since Brand's conviction include a 2007 episode of The Big Fat Quiz of the Year, in which fellow panelist Jonathan Ross joked about moving singer Lily Allen away from Fielding and Brand because of their reputations with women. "How dare you — we're not rapists," Fielding shot back at the time, before the group traded further jokes about sexual assault, NME reported.

Allen, reflecting on that exchange years later, told Grazia the jokes were "really horrendous" in hindsight, though "I don't think I felt that at the time, because it was the culture."

A separate clip from an October 2007 episode of The Russell Brand Show has also resurfaced, in which Brand, then 32, joked about an underage girl he called a "grasshopper." Fielding, a frequent guest on the show, asked on air: "How do you even know if it's a child or an adult? You don't even care, do you?" according to the Guardian.

Other comedians distancing themselves

Jonathan Ross said this week he was "horrified" by Brand's crimes and by separate allegations against David Walliams. "There was a time in my life when I was on friendly terms with both men, and during that period I was genuinely unaware of their conduct. My thoughts are with the many, many women who have bravely come forward," Ross said, per NME. Walliams denies the allegations against him.

Ross also said he regretted a joke he made about Walliams and a 15-year-old girl at the 2004 British Comedy Awards, saying he hadn't written the material and wouldn't make such a joke today.

Since Brand's conviction, six additional women have accused him of sexual misconduct in a new investigation by the Times and the Sunday Times, and the Metropolitan Police say they are continuing to investigate two further allegations of rape against him, according to NME and the Guardian.

What happens next

The Metropolitan Police say they are continuing to investigate two further rape allegations against Brand, separate from the charges already resolved at trial. The Times and Sunday Times have also reported six additional women accusing him of sexual misconduct since his conviction. Nothing in the available coverage indicates whether Brand intends to appeal his conviction or sentence.