Suzanne Harrington: I feel foolish for expecting better from Russell Brand

You only have to look at those who have come out in Brand’s support to see where he has positioned himself politically

Mon, 25 Sep, 2023 - 15:29

Of all the feelings about the ongoing Russell Brand situation, the most overwhelming has been a crushing sense of weariness. Exhaustion, disgust. Fury, obviously, but smothered in a heavy blanket of disillusionment. You too, Russell? Accused of rape and sexual offences? In the same category as Prince Andrew and Andrew Tate? It feels like the oxygen being sucked out of the room.

I’d been a fan once. A decade ago, there’d been a short-lived golden age where Brand had stopped being a manic irritant on pop telly, turned his back on bubblegum Hollywood output, and seemed to be growing into himself. He wrote books about recovery and revolution, funded community projects, popped up at yoga places, ditched the hairspray and eyeliner for something more socially engaged. He appeared to be directing his talent and platform for the common good, albeit with a baked-in god complex. Or was this new altruism too good to be true?

He’d briefly become the darling of the left, harnessing his superfast intellect and eloquent motormouth in a way that presented as constructive and progressive. We went to his shows and laughed ’til we cried. Some of us heard him speak in 12 step meetings. His politicisation, although chaotic and egoic, seemed positive. People wrote essays about his brain, his influence.

But then, amid all the ice baths and the Kundalini, the slide to the right. The alt-right. The yoga-Nazi alliance, heightened during lockdown when the entire world went a bit mad. What on earth? Conspiracy theories, rants, dubious company. It felt like he’d started smoking crack again — loony right wing crack, in the company of loony right wing crackheads. Globalist masterplans, great resets, Bill Gates, ivermectin — why? For the clicks? For the millions of followers? Because that’s how you make money away from the mainstream media. You dog-whistle the loonies.

And now this. Accusations of rape, sexual assault, and grooming. Beyond the infamous promiscuity, the self-documented sex addiction, the famed lack of boundaries, the cheeky urchin schtick, and into sex crime territory.

He denies everything. Do we believe him? Or do we believe the women? The painstaking five-year collaborative investigation?

You only have to look at those who have come out in Brand’s support to see where he has positioned himself politically. He’s way over there, at the extreme toxic end, supported by the shrill voices of Elon Musk, Jordan Peterson, Tucker Carlson, and — oh the shame — Donald Trump Jr. Lower down the rung, voices of hate speechers like Alex Jones, Katie Hopkins, and Tommy Robinson. Sad gits like Laurence Fox. And Piers Morgan, obviously. Imagine having that lot standing up for you.

Bravo then to the women who have come forward, made statements, gave testimony. Bravo to their courage and tenacity. Russell Brand’s credibility as a political being has long been lost down a toxic warren of batshit tin-hattery; now, his credibility as a human being has gone straight after it. What a disappointment. I feel stupid for expecting better of him.

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