The actor and YouTuber previously pleaded not guilty to five counts of rape, sexual assault, and indecent assault last year.

Russell Brand pleads not guilty to new rape and sexual assault charges

The actor and YouTuber previously pleaded not guilty to five counts of rape, sexual assault, and indecent assault last year.

By Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2025. Her work has previously appeared on *Entertainment Tonight* and Popsugar.

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February 24, 2026 10:39 a.m. ET

Russell Brand in 2020. Credit:

Lester Cohen/Getty

Russell Brand pleaded not guilty to two new charges of sexual assault, including one of rape, during his appearance in a London courthouse on Tuesday.

The charges were first announced in December, stemming from allegations from two separate women, per the U.K.'s Metropolitan Police Service. The charges are connected to two incidents that allegedly occurred in 2009, according to the BBC, which cited prosecutors.

"The women who have made reports, including those connected to the two new charges, continue to receive support from specially trained officers," Detective Chief Inspector Tariq Farooqi from the Metropolitan Police Service said in a statement. "The Met’s investigation remains ongoing, and detectives urge anyone affected by this case, or anyone with information, to come forward and speak with police."

Russell Brand in 2017.

Jeff Spicer/Getty

According to *The New York Times*, Brand appeared at Southwark Crown Court during Tuesday's hearing wearing a leopard-print shirt opened to the waist and standing in a plexiglass box. The outlet reported that Judge Joel Bennathan briefly brought up Brand's original five sex assault charges with the prosecution and defense lawyers, discussing whether to add the latest charges to the scheduled four-to-five-week trial for the previous allegations starting in June. The parties all agreed to decide that at a later date.

Russell Brand calls court sketch 'an injustice' after facing multiple sexual assault charges

Russell Brand granted bail following additional sexual assault charges

Brand was previously charged with one count of rape, one count of indecent assault, one count of oral rape, and two counts of sexual assault in April. Those charges were connected to incidents that allegedly occurred with four different women between 1999 and 2005. The comedian pleaded not guilty to the initial five charges in May, and the trial is scheduled to commence at Southwark Crown Court June 3.

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Brand — who is known for starring in films like *Arthur* and *Forgetting Sarah Marshall* — is no stranger to courting controversy. These day, he is best known for his YouTube channel, where he has been accused of pushing various conspiracy theories.

Russell Brand in 2025.

Olivier Touron / AFP via Getty

Detectives first began investigating Brand in September 2023 following a joint investigation by *The U.K. Times, The Sunday Times*, and the U.K. network Channel 4's television series *Dispatches. *Prior to the release of their report, Brand published a YouTube video in which he denied all of the claims against him.**

"These allegations pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream, when I was in the newspapers all the time, when I was in the movies. And as I've written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous," he said at the time. "Now during that time of promiscuity, the relationships I had were absolutely always consensual. I was always transparent about that then — almost too transparent — and I'm being transparent about it now as well."**

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