Jonathan Ross has spoken of his disgust at Russell Brand, with whom he was previously close friends for years. Brand, 51, was sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison after being found guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault involving four women.
Ross built up a friendship with Brand on the television circuit in the early Noughties, and the pair later became embroiled in scandal with the "Sachsgate" controversy. The duo grew so close that Ross attended Brand's two weddings.
After Brand was convicted of rape and sexual assault, Ross said he was "horrified" by his crimes and was "genuinely unaware" of his conduct. Following Brand's jailing, the Standard takes a look at the pair's long-standing former friendship and where things went wrong.
Friendship and Sachsgate scandal
Ross and Brand became friends in 2006 when Brand made his debut appearance on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. Ross appeared on several television shows alongside Brand and also featured on his BBC Radio 2 show in 2008, when the pair became mired in a scandal involving actor Andrew Sachs' granddaughter Georgina Baillie.
Dubbed Sachsgate, the incident saw them leave a voicemail for Sachs, during which they made sexually explicit comments about Baillie. Brand said: "Andrew Sachs, Andrew Sachs. I said something I didn't have oughta, like I had sex with your granddaughter. But it was consensual and she wasn't menstrual, it was consensual lovely sex. It was full of respect, I sent her a text, I've asked her to marry me, Andrew Sachs."
The incident led to Brand stepping down from Radio 2 and Ross receiving a three-month suspension. It didn't seem to affect the pair's friendship, however, as Ross went on to be a guest at Brand's wedding to Katy Perry in Rajasthan, India, in 2010. David Walliams, who was accused of sexual misconduct this week, was also in attendance.
Bonding experience and later years
Ross and Brand later said Sachsgate was a "bonding" experience for them and they grew "very close" as a result. "Let's deal with this, because we're both keen to put this behind us. People, I think are perhaps curious as to how we felt about it afterwards," Ross said when Brand appeared on his chat show in 2013. "We did both regret the furore that we caused, and also the hurt it may have caused Mr Sachs and his family."
Brand added: "Obviously we regretted it because it became difficult to distinguish the media phenomena from the obvious impolite act. I consider myself quite a polite person right, but sometimes you get excited when you're doing a joke. You know when David Attenborough, he was saying when the camera men are filming an animal and they sort of think 'this is brilliant' and they forget it's actual reality – I sometimes think like that with comedy. I'm doing the joke, and I think 'this is brilliant, this is brilliant' and then you sort of realise, 'oh that's reality with real consequences.' I went 'oh it's only a joke' – I didn't realise that we were part of the frequency of reality."
Ross responded: "Russell and I went through an unusual experience together and even though we're both embarrassed by what we did, that's fair enough – but at the same time, the only genuinely nice thing that came out of it for me was the fact that we became very close."
Ross's statement on Brand and Walliams
Brand last appeared as a guest on The Jonathan Ross Show in 2016. Ross attended Brand's second wedding, to his current wife Laura Gallacher, in 2017, alongside his screenwriter wife Jane Goldman. The pair did not have a public falling out in recent years, but the extent of their recent friendship remains unclear.
The talk show host denounced Brand and Walliams in a statement earlier this week. "I am as horrified by the revelations about David Walliams and the crimes of Russell Brand as the rest of the nation," he said. "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."
