A former MTV worker has told Russell Brand's rape trial that the comedian turned into a 'wild-eyed maniac' when he tried to drag her into a toilet for a sexual encounter in 2001.
The woman, giving evidence from behind a screen at Southwark Crown Court, said Brand, now 51, grabbed her by the arm and pulled her towards the bathroom, pleading: 'Go on, come in with me.'
Alleged incident at MTV's London office
Recalling the incident, she said Brand 'went from someone that was quite affable, jovial, and friendly to suddenly turning into this wild-eyed maniac'. The pair had briefly met at the network's London office in 2001, where Brand was one of MTV's star presenters.
After a brief bit of 'jovial banter' about the 'I am Spartacus' t-shirt he was wearing, the woman said Brand asked her where the men's toilets were and she showed him the way.
She said: 'From there, his demeanour changed. He grabbed my forearm and he was leaning into the door, and he was quite forceful, the grip, and it really took me unaware. I wasn't expecting it.'
Woman's account of the encounter
She added: 'He grabbed me by the arm and started to pull me in. He said, "come on, come in with me, go on". It was almost like a pleading.'
'I said to him "what are you doing? Are you mad? Let me go". Then he started to plead, almost "go on, go on, come in".'
She added: 'He had what I would call a wild look in his eyes. I might have called him an idiot.'
Asked why she did not report the incident to police at the time or mention it to her bosses, she pointed out that Brand was one of MTV's star presenters at the time.
'There he is, one of the big assets at MTV and I have got a mortgage to pay so why make it hard for myself?' she said. 'It would have been my word against his, I had a job to consider, I came away relatively unscathed, and he didn't rape me. I managed to get myself out of the situation and I wanted a quiet life.'
Defence questions memory of events
Brand's barrister, Ian Winter KC, suggested the woman had reassessed her memory of the incident after seeing a 2023 Dispatches documentary which accused the comedian of sexual misconduct.
He put it to the woman that 'it is only after the TV programme that you think he was trying to rape you in the toilet', adding: 'You thought he was asking you and insisting that you go in with him for some consensual sexual activity – that's what you thought at the time, isn't it?'
Mr Winter added: 'And when you made it very clear that that wasn't going to happen, he let go and that was the end of it.'
The woman said: 'You don't drag someone by the arm, not in my world anyway. That is not consensual.' She added: 'I always knew it was wrong. That didn't change my mind.'
She said she decided to go to police in 2023 because it was 'the right thing to do'.
Other charges and trial background
Earlier on Friday, the court heard from two men who were once part of a theatre troupe with Brand, as they were asked to recall the 1999 Labour Party conference where he is accused of raping a woman.
Brand denies seven charges, including rapes and sexual assault against six different women from 1999 to 2009. He is set to argue that consensual encounters have been 'reimagined' by his accusers after he faced allegations of sexual misconduct in recent years.
The trial continues.
