Lorraine Kelly said on her ITV programme that the people around Russell Brand were "shameful" for allowing his behaviour to continue, following his conviction for rape and sexual assault. She declared that "nobody said, 'stop it'" as she discussed the comedian's "fall from grace" with contributor Lucy Cave.
Brand was remanded at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday, where Mr Justice Bennathan warned that he faced a "significant custodial sentence". Jurors unanimously found him guilty of offences against four women between 2004 and 2009.
Fall from grace
Discussing the case on Friday's show, Lorraine said, "Well, Lucy Cave is here. I mean, this is a total fall from grace. Of course, it is. You've met him like I have. I don't think anyone was surprised."
Lucy replied, "I don't think they were. But I think, as you say, the fall from grace is at an extraordinary scale. I think because he started off as a presenter, a comedian, he started off in Big Brother's Big Mouth when I first met him. You know, he went on to do numerous different things: he was on telly, he was on radio; he sort of was all over the place, and then he hit massive global fame in Hollywood. He was in films like Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Arthur."
Fame and behaviour
Lorraine observed, "It was like the worse he behaved, the more famous he became. Yeah, and he was very open about the fact that he... I can't say the word. But he, you know, he went through women, if you like. Yeah, I mean, he was saying that. Shall we say promiscuous?"
Lucy added, "And I think that's the thing. He sort of almost...a lot of celebrities become famous for a role. He was famous for being Russell Brand, and that was almost something that people used in his defence. It was like, 'that's just Russell'."
Lorraine added: "That's it because I mean, when anybody tried to complain, and a lot of female comedians did, and a lot of people as well, they were told, 'it's just his shtick, that's just Russell'. And I have to say, I feel the people around him who allowed this are shameful. They really are; they allowed him to be like that, and nobody said, 'stop it'."
Conviction details
Brand has been convicted of the rape of a 21-year-old woman he met following a comedy performance at the Hammersmith Apollo in 2009. He was also found guilty of sexually assaulting an MTV employee at a Soho bar, a woman at the Choice FM studios, and a Channel 4 worker who had been told to give him a massage.
The defendant was cleared of an attempted indecent assault charge after being accused of grabbing a woman's arm and dragging her towards a toilet in central London in 2001. He was also acquitted of orally raping a woman in a bar toilet in London, an attack alleged to have occurred while the pair were attending a birthday celebration together in Soho.
Lorraine airs weekdays at 9.30am on ITV.
