// BBC ENTERTAINMENT & ARTS — MODA & SOCIETÀ
How 2000s lad culture helped Russell Brand to hide in plain sight
Russell Brand was found guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault
Warning: This article contains graphic descriptions of sexual acts
No British celebrity navigated the cultural changes of the early 21st Century better than Russell Brand.
He morphed from provocative stand-up comic to TV star and Hollywood actor. He became a YouTuber and political activist, taking up left-wing causes around issues of inequality in the 2010s, then Covid conspiracies and in 2024 supporting Donald Trump for president. That same year he was baptised as a Christian in London's River Thames.
Now he has a new persona to try on: convicted rapist.
On Thursday, the disgraced comedian was found guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault at Southwark Crown Court, following a three-week trial.
As he faces jail, it's clear that the behaviour that formed the backdrop to Brand's prosecution is the same behaviour that helped elevate him in the first place.
Brand performing at the MTV Video Music Awards a year after his memoir was published
Brand shot to fame as a sexually outrageous libertine whose risque humour thrilled audiences.
He cultivated the image of an insatiable, shameless womaniser. Sex, drugs and excess were central to his comic material.