The rise of independent journalism has stripped a great deal of power away from corporate media and those who influence the Official Narrative. Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson took his program to X, reaching more viewers in some cases than "Tucker Carlson Tonight" did. And those completely outside the media world have also stepped in to deliver Americans a view of the news they definitely aren’t getting from mainstream outlets. But dig a little too deep on some topics and one can be certain punishments will be coming one way or another from the establishment. That’s Carlson’s assessment of what’s happening to actor Russell Brand, and he's not alone.
"Criticize the drug companies, question the war in Ukraine, and you can be pretty sure this is going to happen," Carlson said, with other influential figures like Elon Musk and Andrew Tate agreeing.
Those remarks came in response to a video of Brand categorically denying accusations of rape, sexual assault, and emotional abuse over a seven-year period.
BBC offers up a quick summary:
Four women are alleging sexual assaults between 2006 and 2013:
- One woman alleges that Brand raped her without a condom against a wall in his Los Angeles home. She says Brand tried to stop her leaving until she told him she was going to the bathroom. She was treated at a rape crisis centre on the same day, which the Times says it has confirmed via medical records
- A second woman, in the UK, alleges that Brand assaulted her when he was in his early 30s and she was 16 and still at school. She alleges he referred to her as "the child" during an emotionally abusive and controlling relationship. Looking back, she says, he "engaged in the behaviours of a groomer"
- A third woman claims that Brand sexually assaulted her while she worked with him in Los Angeles. She alleges she repeatedly told Brand to get off her, and when he eventually relented he "flipped" and was "super angry". She says he threatened to take legal action if she told anyone else about her allegation
- The fourth woman has alleged being sexually assaulted by Brand in the UK and him being physically and emotionally abusive towards her
Criticize the drug companies, question the war in Ukraine, and you can be pretty sure this is going to happen. https://t.co/3T7GjBddA5
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) September 16, 2023
Brand posted his video prior to the stories being published, noting he received two "extremely disturbing letters" from a newspaper and television company.
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"Amidst this litany of astonishing, rather baroque attacks are some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute," he said. "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 have written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous."
"Now during that time of promiscuity, the relationships I had were absolutely, always consensual," he added. "I was always transparent about that then, almost too transparent, and I am being transparent about it now as well."
He argued the attacks are meant to damage his reputation because of his views.
"To see that transparency metastasized into something criminal, that I absolutely deny, makes me question is there another agenda at play," Brand said.
The actor has amassed a YouTube following of more than 6 million subscribers and has discussed a number of "off-limits" topics, including the pandemic, the COVID vaccines, Big Pharma, the war in Ukraine, and more.
This is how the establishment media is covering Russell Brand. It only allows for a single, driven narrative without even so much as a voice of dissension. He’s declared guilty, without a trial.
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) September 17, 2023
Tell me there isn’t a media conspiracy to take him down. pic.twitter.com/mYxxCvUomt
Russell Brand: Pfizer made $1000 a second from the Covid vaccine that you funded, kept the profits & laundered it to the deep state, also its military industrial complex benefits from crisis.
— The Redheaded libertarian (@TRHLofficial) September 17, 2023
The deep state: oh fk well it looks like you’re a r*pist now
pic.twitter.com/7JOpNPvS5E
I support Russell Brand. That man is not evil.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 17, 2023
I don't know Russell Brand or what he's done in the past, but I do know that he's guilty until proven innocent because he challenges the narrative.
— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) September 17, 2023