Sharon Osbourne has spoken out about Russell Brand after knowing him for 20 years, saying he must "pay" for his crimes following his 10-and-a-half-year prison sentence for rape and sexual assault.
The disgraced comedian was jailed on Monday (November 9) for raping one woman and sexually assaulting three others during his career. He was accused of abusing his celebrity status to prey on women.
Brand, now 51, had previously denied wrongdoing and claimed all his relationships were consensual. A jury found him guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault following a four-week trial, while he was found not guilty of two counts of rape and one charge of attempted indecent assault.
Judge's Remarks and Sentence
As he was sentenced, judge Mr Justice Bennathan criticised his "staggering arrogance." Brand is expected to serve two-thirds of his prison sentence before being released on licence and will be on the sex offenders' register for life.
The Osbournes previously said they had been friends with Brand for 20 years. Sharon and her son Jack have now spoken out following Brand's conviction and sentencing, the Mirror reports.
Osbournes' Reaction
Speaking on The Osbournes Podcast on Thursday (November 12), Sharon said: "Even if it's years ago and you've tidied up your life, you've got your head together. You've got everything going [for you]. The whole thing is ugly. But his wife, his kids..."
Jack commented: "And obviously there's the victims. It's horrible that they've had to and what they've had to endure and obviously lived through for decades now." Sharon then added: "He got his life together. But you know what? You play, you pay."
When the original allegations were made against Brand in 2023 following the investigation from The Times and Channel 4's Dispatches, Sharon spoke out over the claims. "Being a woman, when I hear these cases where women have been abused and taken advantage of, I automatically go to the woman's side, because I love women, I care about them," she said.
Social Media Fallout
Brand was seen reaching out to Elon Musk via his X account after the billionaire showed his support for the convicted rapist following his imprisonment. Brand's Instagram account was taken down, and Meta also deactivated his Facebook account, yet posts continue to appear on his X account.
Posting just two days after being sent down to HMP Wandsworth, Brand's X account, which has 10 million followers, posted: "There never was a Russell Brand, according to Meta. Thank God for Elon Musk." According to the Mirror, the post ended: "Stay tuned," hinting at more to come.
Alongside the message, Brand's account reshared an email from Meta which read: "We disabled your account. You no longer have access to russellbrand." Giving an explanation as to why, it continued: "Your account, or activity on it, doesn’t follow our Community Standards. No one can see or find your account, and you can’t use it. All your information will be permanently deleted."
It was further confirmed that Brand wouldn't be able to "request another review of this decision" but that the information he had previously shared could be downloaded.
