Richard Osman has described Russell Brand as a "talentless sex-obsessed sleaze" following the comedian's conviction for rape and sexual assault, and has recalled what he heard about him during his rise to fame.
The former Pointless host, 55, worked at Endemol UK in the early 2000s, when the company hired Brand to front the Big Brother spin-offs, giving the comic his big television break.
Osman's early impressions of Brand
Speaking about the time when Brand, who was jailed for more than 10 years after being convicted of rape and sexual assault, initially found fame, Osman said: "He was in an industry all of his own."
"So, he came out in early 2000s or something. I've never worked with, never met him. Right from the beginning, I thought he was awful. I thought he's talentless, all of that. But that's fine. None of that is illegal, right?"
Hearsay and the MeToo movement
Osman went on to claim that as Brand's star continued to rise, he heard things about him, though he stressed that "nothing illegal" was known to have gone on at the time. He suggested it was following the MeToo movement in Hollywood that people felt able to speak out.
Speaking on The Rest Is Entertainment podcast, he told co-host Marina Hyde: "He gets more famous. You sort certainly hear that he is a sleaze, again, not illegal. Not nice and not something you'd want to work with but the guy is a sleaze, he's sex-obsessed."
"Nothing illegal, heard nothing. There comes a point, I think it's 2017, possibly 2018 when and I think because is that the year because of the me too movement I think people have been emboldened actually to be more public within the industry about the things that had happened."
Allegations and Katherine Ryan's response
During his hosting stint on Big Brother's Big Mouth, Brand, who was sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison, allegedly used production staff as "pimps" to find audience members he would deem as "lambs to the slaughter".
The conversation then turned to comedienne Katherine Ryan, whom they noted "made as clear as she possibly could within the legal bounds, made accusations" against Brand.
Speaking about the guilty verdict of his trial, on the latest episode of her podcast Telling Everybody Everything, Ryan said: "It really made me feel just quite dysregulated again, caught off-guard, emotional, in awe of the survivors who also had nothing to gain."
"They came forward despite Russell Brand having fame, power, money, and a legion of fans ready to attack them." She added: "I will never be someone who like, dances on graves. There has been some justice done today. There's a level of relief, but there's grief alongside relief."
"Everything's nuanced, and it was proved in court that a terrible thing happened, and that means that a terrible thing happened."
"I just think again and again about people who have been hurt, and who have to carry that, who've carried that around long enough, and will continue to carry that in some way, regardless of what justice is done."
Ryan continued on the podcast: "This verdict came because women were hurt, and I worry as well about what happens next."
"Because he's obviously spent a long time cultivating this idea that the establishment have invented these claims against him, and he's martyred himself to a growing audience who really still think that it is the courageous survivors who are the villains in this story."
